Don't Lean Upstream
by armchairaloof
Summary: Modern summer camp counselors AU. Emma was finally getting some real responsibility in their close-knit camp, she just wished her makeshift family would treat her like she was an adult capable of making her own decisions in her love life and stop pushing her towards the new cocky rock climbing instructor. Elaborate schemes and summer flings ensue
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Hello, there! The idea for this has been barraging a good portion of my waking thoughts and I decided to finally put it down on (electronic) paper. And I know I'm becoming ~that person~ by saying this BUT, I am so close to finishing my thesis I can practically taste the diploma now. So this story is quite literally my procrastination incarnate. Now, what does that mean? Beyond the obvious (and correct) conclusions that could be made about my sanity, it means that I will be updating as often as I'm in a caffeine-fueled waking nightmare but yet cannot bring myself to write about the far more dull and college-y subject that will determine my academic fate. Also that my writing style is pretty time-jumpy and stream of conscious-esque… So, without further rambling ado, thank you for reading!

* * *

 _Bang, bang, bang._

Killian woke with a start and promptly fell off the lumpy couch he had been sprawled across.

 _Bang, bang, bang._

Still a bit dazed from his sudden state of consciousness, he abstractly realized that the banging on the door was what woke him up.

"TINK!" A panicked voice all but screamed from the other side of the door, accompanied soon after by more banging. "Tinkerbelle, get your tiny ass out here! I can't open the door!"

Killian quickly shook his head to clear out the sleepy fog he had been under and strode to the front of the small cabin. He opened the door and stood dumbfounded at the sight before him.

A boy no more than 10 years old had blood streaming down his face from a nasty looking gash above one eye and the little skin that was visible looked sallow and more than a bit green. But that wasn't what had Killian slack jawed and scrambling for coherent thought, he would be ashamed to remember later on. No, all his attention was squarely focused on the blonde goddess holding the boy in her arms. She too had blood congealed to various patches of skin, but he thought that was likely the boy's as there were no injuries visible on her. Her long golden hair was hanging damply in a braid and several sizable unruly tresses had become dislodged. Wide green eyes stared at him in obvious shock as she realized that he was in fact not the camp doctor for whom she had been yelling. Even in such a state of panicked fervor (and growing steadily angrier as Killian blocked the doorway without saying anything or helping her, he realized belatedly) she was the most gorgeous woman he had ever seen.

She cleared her throat and Killian finally snapped out of whatever haze of inaction had him rooted to his spot. He quickly moved out of the way so she could carry the boy fully inside the cabin and set him down on the couch he had just occupied.

"Where's Tink?" the woman asked exasperatedly. She began rummaging around the cabinets on the other side of the room without looking at him.

"Um, she just stepped out for a bit… I think she'll be back soon," Killian said with unintentional extra emphasis on his lilting accent as he was still fairly stunned by his sudden wakefulness, not to mention the unexpected visitors. He glanced over at the boy whose mop of brown hair was now obscuring his face as he lay on the couch. He still looked pale, but it appeared that the bleeding had stopped.

The woman paused in her search of the medical supplies and turned sharply back to look at Killian with a strange expression. Her eyes darted between his own cautiously but apparently she didn't find what she was looking for in his face because she once again turned around to open another cabinet.

"Do you need any help, lass?"

"Aha!" She exclaimed triumphantly in lieu of an answer to his question, pulling out rubbing alcohol and some gauze. In a flash she was back over by the couch, crouching down by the boy and not sparing Killian a second glance. "Okay, kid, this is gonna sting. Don't move." She cleansed the wound quickly and efficiently, earning grunts of pain and a grimace from the patient.

"Maybe this'll teach you not to try to do a human triangle on kayaks," she gritted out as the kid gave a particularly violent wince when the alcohol came in contact with exposed flesh. The admonishing words lost their bite as she grinned down at the boy.

"It would have worked if Roland could keep still for more than two seconds at a time…" the boy grumbled sullenly.

She sighed and resumed her task. "Ugh, your mom is going to kill me."

As she finished up with cleaning the blood off of the boy and put a bandage on the wound (which looked far less gory now that it wasn't matted in hair and dried blood) Killian finally took in the woman's apparel—or lack thereof, more like. She had on a bright blue swimsuit top—that left very little to the imagination—and extremely short black running shorts. He quickly averted his eyes away from her ass, which he hadn't even realized he'd been staring at until she rose from her squatted position at the head of the couch.

Thankfully Tink chose that moment to make her appearance. Slamming the door open and making it tremble in its frame, the small pixie-like woman looked stunned as she took in the scene in front of her. "Emma! What happened?" she exclaimed, her slight Australian accent making a resurgence in her excitement much like Killian's had.

Emma looked down at the boy still lying prone on the couch and smiled ruefully. "Do you wanna tell her or should I?" The boy seemed to shrink further into the cushions and looked like he wished he could be invisible. Taking that as her answer, she continued, " _Someone_ was attempting to do some mild water acrobatics and landed face-first on the edge of a kayak." She threw a pointed look at the boy, whose face had bypassed several shades of normal human coloring and was now bright red from embarrassment. "About gave me a heart attack when I saw all the blood. Though it turned out to be less serious than it looked at first. I think the water just made the blood look a lot runnier."

Tink went over to the boy and rechecked Emma's bandaging, nodding in approval of her handiwork. "Well I'm sorry I wasn't here when you came, I just went over to the admin building to copy some more patient forms. But I see you've met Killian," she ended her last statement with a look at himself and Killian was reminded that he hadn't actually introduced himself during the awkward exchange.

He stuck out his hand to the blonde currently absorbed in silent appraisal of him and said, "I hadn't had the pleasure of introductions in the midst of the chaos. Killian Jones."

She slowly but firmly shook his hand and nodded once. "Emma Swan. I'm the kayaking instructor. And this little daredevil is Henry."

"Regina just made Killian the new rock climbing instructor," Tink supplied, smirking at Emma for some unfathomable reason. Emma barked out a laugh and though confused as to what the two women were finding amusing about this news, Killian couldn't help admiring the way her smile lit up her face and crinkled the edges of her eyes.

"Well I always knew your mom had a somewhat morbid sense of humor," she said to the boy, Henry, as he finally raised himself to a sitting position on the couch.

Killian quirked a brow at Tink. She winked at him in return and explained, "The last rock climbing instructor, Graham, was Irish as well. Seems our dear camp director thought it best to continue the pattern."

"Ah." Killian couldn't think of anything else to say to this tidbit of information as Emma chose that moment to reach her arms above her head and stretch out her whole body, showing off her lean stomach and toned limbs in the process. Emma noticed him staring and smirked at him. Before he could do more than feel slightly embarrassed that he had been caught, she turned back to face Henry.

"You, kid," she put her hands on her hips and looked at the boy in mock reproach, "are ridiculously heavy." She stretched again to prove her point as well as torture Killian a bit more.

"Hey, I'm not the one that insisted you carry me all the way over here sprinting!"

"You looked like you were gonna pass out and you were covered in blood—which was terrifying, bee-tee-dubs." She laughed again at Henry's exasperated groan. "And what kind of aunt would I be if I let you bleed to death on my docks?"

"Wait, aunt? You're Regina's sister?" Killian could accept the fact that his boy was the stern camp director's son; his business-like new boss, Regina, had seemed about the right age to have a 10 year old, even if the imposing woman didn't seem particularly maternal in nature. But this woman before him looked like Regina's polar opposite, all golden sunshine and playful banter hiding undercurrents of passion and thoughtfulness. Nothing like what he would have guessed any sister of hers to resemble.

Emma didn't seem inclined to answer his blunt question, preferring instead to stare blankly at him, and so it was Tink who finally took pity on his confusion, "Um, it's kind of a complicated story. Emma is David Nolan's—he used to be the other kayak instructor and ]now he's the Assistant Director—brother and he's married to Mary Margaret, who's Regina's…I guess former step-daughter. Well anyway, Emma and the rest of us have been coming to the camp every summer for years and years, most of us started out as campers and are now employees. Almost everybody's related in some way or another, so it's easier for the next generation to just call us Aunt or Uncle Blah Blah Blah." Tink shrugged and finished her ramblings brightly, "Nepotism at its finest!"

During Tink's musings Emma had been carefully studying this newcomer to their little summer camp family. She wasn't quite sure what to make of him. Even with his brow furrowed in confusion and sporting some killer bedhead he was insanely attractive. His eyes were still a little glazed—possibly because she suspected she had woken up him when she came screaming to the door or possibly because he couldn't make heads or tails of Tink's nonsensical explanation—but she could tell that they were a brilliant shade of blue that had her insides melting slightly. His scruff was a little lighter than the rest of his hair and only added to his handsomeness.

So lost in thought was she that she didn't realize Tink had stopped talking and was now staring at Emma with a knowing look that she did like one bit.

"Sorry, what did you say?"

"I asked if you'd like me to keep Henry here for a bit to make sure he's okay and so you can go back to the lake," Tink replied easily, watching with interest as her friend glanced back at Killian for a split second.

"Yeah, I should probably get back there," Emma agreed. "I told Vic to watch the other munchkins when I ran off with Henry, but god knows he's probably fallen back asleep," she said with a scoff.

"Oh great, you can take Killian there to meet him!" Tink was looking way too excited at her own suggestion for it to be completely innocent. "Victor will be your partner at the rock wall," she explained to a once more confused Killian.

Emma shot Tink a look but the other woman just smiled even more widely, if that was possible.

"Sure, whatever," Emma sighed, motioning for Killian to precede her out of the cramped cabin. He followed her reluctant direction and waved back at Tink and Henry.

"Until we meet again, young sir. Lovely Tinkerbelle." He bowed towards each of them in turn—yep, freaking bowed—earning giggles and 'good day's from the pair.

Emma made her way to the doorway but paused to turn back around and see Tink and Henry sharing a giddy and all too conspiratorial look. "I'll talk to you later," she said to Tink, heavily laden with all the meaning she could infuse into that one statement. "And kid, please try not to kill yourself on my watch anymore. Regina's still pissed at me for that archery incident. Why don't you go run with scissors in front of David? He'd _love_ that."

Henry saluted her with all the seriousness he could muster and the sight was frankly adorable. Emma finally left the cabin chuckling to herself and clomped down the short wooden staircase to the dirt path below where the scruffy man with the all too familiar accent was waiting for her.

"So, which way to the shore?"

Emma raised her eyebrows at that. The guy didn't even know where the lake was? It wasn't _that_ large of a camp. "Um, this way," she said, pointing to the widening dirt road that wound through the trees. It was only a short jaunt through the woods until the road stopped in front of the small boat shack they used to store kayaks out of season, and beyond that was the dock and beach.

They began walking and a slightly awkward silence settled between them. "Sooo…" she began, dragging out the word and swinging her hands in front of her while she walked to clap them nervously. Now that she wasn't holding Henry in her arms she felt strangely unoccupied. Looking down she also realized with a slight frown that she had streaks of his blood on her arms and stomach. She'd have to rinse off once she got to the boat shack. "You're a friend of Tink's?"

"Aye, she and I go way back. I hadn't seen her in ages, but when I told her I was moving over here she suggested I try and get a job at the camp." Emma could tell there was probably more to the story than that. Who moved to a different country with no job prospects or plan? At least, she would never do that. She couldn't stand not having everything in her life planned out and carefully accounted for. That was one result of being in the foster care system as a kid: she took great pride in being able to control her own life and future.

"I'm still a bit jet-lagged actually. I apologize I wasn't more help back there, I guess the sleep deprivation is finally catching up to me," he continued on sheepishly, reaching up to scratch nervously behind one ear.

Emma looked over at him from the corner of her eye as she walked. He seemed sincere and was probably worried that she thought he was a bumbling idiot for not doing more when she barged in panicking. "It's cool, I was just freaked out. This is my first year going solo as an instructor and I didn't want to screw up before the first session even started."

"I'm sure you'll do great, lass," Killian replied smiling warmly.

Emma scoffed at that. "You don't even know me, buddy." She quickly scrambled to find something else to say though, realizing that he was probably about to say he'd like to know her better or something equally cringe-worthy. Emma did not need another empty promise from another douchebag. "So rock climbing—they have a lot of that in Ireland?"

He seemed to consider her for a second, probably wondering at the sudden change of topic, before chuckling lightly and shrugging. "Not so much, no. I actually haven't climbed in about a year, ever since I moved back to the UK. But Tink and I went to college in Colorado and I got really into it there."

"Ah, I was wondering how an Aussie and an Irishman got friendly," Emma replied, recognizing the possible double meaning of those words only as she took in Killian awkwardly scratching behind his ear again—a nervous tic if she ever saw one—and his slightly panicked expression.

"Oh no, we're just friends—she, erm… well, we—"

Emma laughed, startling him from continuing his ill-fated stuttering. "Relax, I know she plays for the other team, so to speak."

"Oh good, I didn't know how close she was with people here," he said nervously and then seemed to realize something. "You don't, I mean… you and she—Not that I have a—"

"Wow, you're just goin' for all the awkward subjects, aren't you?" She laughed again at his obvious discomfort. "No, I am very much a part of the heterosexual team. Tink and I have been friends for years, we basically grew up together—at least in the summer—and she's like my sister. That's kind of the problem with everyone around here; like Tink said, we're like family and it gets awkward when two of your family members start dating—or worse yet, break up. That's for damn sure," Emma trailed off at that point, muttering the last part almost under her breath to herself.

They reached the dock then and for that Emma was happy for that small gift from the gods. The conversation with Killian was getting weird.

She noticed that Victor was indeed hunched down in his lawn chair dozing with his mouth hanging open. In a calculated move to lighten the mood, Emma stooped down on the beach where Roland had left his sand castle making tools and picked up the plastic bucket there. Filling it up with water from the lake she tiptoed over to the lawn chair and looked back over to Killian. She raised a warning brow as he began to chuckle and put her finger to her lips causing him to stifle his laughter with his hand. With no other warning she unceremoniously dumped the contents of the bucket onto Victor's head. He immediately jumped up ramrod straight and sputtered out an angry exclamation not fit for the ears of small campers (luckily Roland and the few other early arrivals were too far away still to be corrupted).

Once he'd finally shaken off enough water and oriented himself, Victor noticed Emma doubled over in unrestrained laughter. "Oh, you will pay for this, duckling!" Still too incapacitated by her hysterics, Emma could offer no resistance when Victor easily grabbed her around the middle and carried her squirming form over to the end of the dock where he dropped her off the edge and into the cold lake.

By this point, all the kids had swum or paddled over in their kayaks to see what the commotion was about. They howled in laughter as they saw what the "adults" were up to and a splashing war was promptly begun when Victor cannon-balled into the lake.

Emma quickly made her escape and pulled herself back up onto the wooden dock using just her upper body strength, not trusting that one of the munchkins wouldn't attempt to pull her back in if she swam over to use the ladder. Just as she was about to stand up a large hand appeared in front of her and she gratefully used it to come to a standing position. She was surprised (though not altogether unpleasantly) to see that the hand belonged to Killian; she'd almost forgotten he was there after being dunked in the lake.

"Thanks," she said a little breathlessly and peeling her wet hair out of her eyes.

Killian grinned back at her mischievously. "Oh I wouldn't thank me yet, lass."

"Wha-" Emma didn't get anything else out before Killian swooped down and picked her up easily with a hand beneath her knees and another cradling her back. With another brilliant smile he promptly dropped her back in the water and as soon as her head came spluttering back into view on the surface he jumped in as well, forcing Emma to fight to stay afloat once again.

She scoffed indignantly once she was finally breathing normally. "I think you'll fit in here just fine, Jones." He just flashed that wide boyish smile that would have made her knees go weak if she had been standing.

It was shaping up to be a long summer.


	2. Chapter 2

Emma Swan liked to be in charge. Not in the power hungry way some of her colleagues ran things, mind you. But she enjoyed being able to set her own rules and schedule to an extent, and seeing her plans followed through.

Now that she was the head—and only—kayaking instructor at camp, she was excited to get to do things more like how _she_ thought they should be done: kayaks stacked at the end of each day in the boat shack in her particular way (David called it OCD but Emma called it precision), paddle blades off the ground to prevent nicks, mandatory dry land core and arm exercises for beginners, and so on. So far Regina had pretty much given her free reign in her little boating kingdom.

That is, until she forced Emma to train the new guy.

"He isn't even in my department," she had whined uncharacteristically when Regina had broken the news last night.

"You're just teaching him camp basics and general things—not specific department procedures. Victor can take care of that once he's done helping Tinkerbelle restock the infirmary. And besides, Killian is apparently already a decent rock climber and instructor, so that shouldn't be a problem. But he doesn't have any camp experience. Show him the ropes, give him the rundown," the older woman sighed and looked bored with the conversation already. "Look, you know it's not often that we get completely fresh blood on the staff, so do your best to tell him all the stuff everybody else has known for years."

Emma groaned. "Ugh, fine," she responded with one last petulant eye roll. "Just until the kids all get here though. Then I'll be too busy."

"That is all that I would expect from you. Thank you, Emma." Regina looked down at her perfectly organized clipboard in a not-so-subtle dismissal.

Emma scoffed and then grinned at her. "Regina. We've known each other for like a decade. You may be the boss these days, but don't go all frigid now. We both know way too much about each other for that."

Regina looked back at her in what was surely meant to be a calculating stare. "Indeed we do."

Emma rolled her eyes. "Where are the boys?"

Regina visibly softened at the mention of her little family. "Phillip and Aurora just took Henry and Roland to go get some ice cream at the mess hall. And Robin won't get here till tomorrow evening; he had to wrap up a few things at the office before he could leave. Boston had an unusually late snow storm this spring that pushed everything back a few weeks." Robin owned a snow removal operation that left him free in the summers to work odd jobs at the camp.

"He'll make it for the barbeque though, right?" she asked.

"He said he'd try, but he still had to balance out the finances when the boys and I left yesterday so who knows when he'll get here," Regina said with a sardonic grin at her husband's accounting ineptitude.

Emma smiled along with her, remembering the year Robin had attempted to do an overhaul of the camp's books only to give up and hire Belle to do it. "Well I'm glad the boys are here at least."

"Yes, that reminds me, Henry sure is looking a little worse for wear this evening," Regina narrowed her eyes at Emma.

"Whoa there, not my fault. He—" Emma began defensively.

"Relax, I was just joking." Regina rolled her eyes at Emma's gullibility. "Henry told me it was completely his fault and how you carried him all the way to the infirmary. Thank you, Emma," she said sincerely.

Emma shrugged to dismiss her actions but didn't respond further.

"Ugh, fine. Don't accept my praise, see if I care!" Emma smirked at Regina's use of her own earlier words of exasperation. "Now run along and prepare for a fun-filled day of Irishman training."

Just like that Emma was reminded of why she was dreading tomorrow.

* * *

Sitting alone at the counselors' table in the mess hall and facing the beginning of 'newbie babysitting,' as Emma had been calling it in her head, she was decidedly _not_ fine with the plan. She picked at her eggs and hash browns with disinterest and dreaded having to cart the annoying new guy around camp and show him how to turn on the ancient showers or answer his walkie-talkie. Not to mention the fact that said new guy was unfairly attractive and had managed to get under her skin in the 24 hours she had known him.

After their unexpected 'swim' in the lake yesterday, Emma had expected Killian to attach himself to Vic and learn the ropes of the rock climbing station—pun definitely intended. Instead, Tink had returned with Henry after a little while and requested that Victor come back with her to help on some big project restocking all the medical supplies in the infirmary. Apparently Emma's foray into the cabinets had revealed that they were dangerously low on some supplies. At least one good thing came from Henry's brief career as a stunt man.

And so Killian had stayed put at the docks helping Emma watch over the few kids brought early to camp by their parents who worked there. To actually call what he was doing "helping" was probably stretching it though. What he really did was annoy the crap out of her. Luckily Henry was stuck on dry land until his bandage could be removed, so he could play buffer between Emma and Killian. The presence of the impressionable young mind also curbed _most_ of Killian's more obvious innuendos and salacious comments. Some still managed to get though, however.

"So, Swan, have you dried off yet, or are you still a bit _wet_?" He'd punctuated what otherwise could have been perceived as an innocent inquiry with an impressive wiggle of his eyebrows above Henry's unsuspecting head.

Emma clenched her jaw and stared right back at him. "Oh, I'm plenty dry, _Jones_. But if you'd like another dip in the water, that could certainly be arranged." She smiled sweetly back at him.

He'd laughed loudly at that, causing Henry to look between the two and mutter, "You guys are weird."

* * *

Emma was brought swiftly back to the present when someone dropped their tray down beside her on the mess hall table with a clatter.

"David!" she screamed when she saw who it was. Musings forgotten, Emma stood up and was immediately enveloped in a bear hug by her adoptive brother.

"I missed you, baby sister," David said into her hair and she could hear the smile in his voice.

Emma closed her eyes. "I missed you, too." It'd been almost four months since she'd last seen David and Mary Margaret. She had never been away from either of them for that long since she met them at this very camp when she was 13. But then she graduated from college a year ago and got a job that had her traveling almost all the time. Emma loved her job, but being away from the people she cared about was hard on her.

"When did you get in?" he asked as they took their seats next to each other on the bench.

"Yesterday morning. Vic and Ruby picked me up from the airport on their way here. You?"

"M and I drove up from Boston after school let out so we got here pretty late last night." Like many of the camp staff, David and Mary Margaret were teachers for most of the year and only came to the camp during the summer vacations. "Thank god we get our own cabin this year!" he said dramatically and Emma rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, that might have put a damper on the newlywed atmosphere you're still desperately holding onto." It'd been almost a year since they got married and they still made doe eyes at each other at every opportunity.

After they'd calmed down from their reunion, Emma and David quickly settled back into their old ways as if nothing had happened. But when she eventually came down from the emotional high of seeing David again, the dark cloud of her impending day reappeared in Emma's thoughts.

"What's got you so thoughtful this early in the morning?" David asked after seeing a frown settle on her face as she contemplated her mostly uneaten food.

"Who says I'm thoughtful?"

"Well the only times I've seen you glare daggers at your food like that is when you're in an especially bad mood. Come on, lil' sis. Spill." David leaned over and nudged her playfully with his shoulder.

"Whatever," she gave in, the corners of her mouth quirking up in a reluctant smile. Somehow David always knew when something was wrong with her. "Regina's making me take the new guy on a tour and tell him everything," she said waving her hash brown laden fork in the air to gesture to the camp.

"And you're worried you're too busy?" David prompted.

"No, I've got everything sorted out with the kayaks. I'm all ready for when the munchkins get here. It's just the new guy, Killian, gets on my nerves. He's been perfectly nice and all—well, aside from inserting innuendos into every other sentence—but I just don't know how to act around him. And he keeps, I dunno, looking at me like he _knows_ me or can read me or something…" she finished lamely, not really knowing how to explain the issue.

David narrowed his eyes and nodded thoughtfully. "I see."

"What?" she asked with a level voice, narrowing her eyes right back at him in suspicion.

"Well it seems to me that you don't really dislike him, and maybe that's the problem. You know, Emma, it's okay to make new friends," David said softly. "They're not all assholes and jerks." He seemed to consider something and then added cheerfully, "Although, if this guy does turn out to be a bad one, I'd happily punch him."

Emma rolled her eyes again but then laughed at his excitement to play the overprotective brother role. "I'll keep you updated. You're right though, I suppose I need to suck it up and accept my fate."

"There's the optimistic Emma I know and love!" David exclaimed much too loudly for 7:13 in the morning and reached around to give her a reassuring one-armed hug. Emma's mood hadn't quite improved to the point of prolonged physical contact though, so she huffed and lightly swatted at him until she was released.

"Aw, I love these family bonding moments!" A grinning Ruby slid onto the bench across from them with a clatter from her own tray. As per usual she was dressed in high-wasted shorts and a crop top that showed a good three inches of flat belly. "Seeing Emma squirm is one of my favorite pastimes."

Emma scowled at her friend and went back to eating her breakfast, this time with slightly more enthusiasm.

Ruby and David then started up a lively discussion about some of the changes David would be implementing this year since being promoted to Assistant Director, a fact for which Emma was very proud of him. This happiness did not, however, translate into any more intelligible thoughts coming from Emma's lips. Both Ruby and David knew that she was basically useless until after she had some breakfast in her and so didn't push her to join in their conversation.

Soon more and more of the staffers had arrived and taken their places at the breakfast table. Hearing their good-natured banter surround her always made her feel like she was home and her sullen mood steadily improved. She hugged and greeted her old friends that she hadn't yet seen since everyone got to camp and laughed at their chirps about her 'morning grumps.'

Emma had finished off a second helping of scrambled eggs and contemplated risking some caffeine when she knew it would only hasten her dehydration later on that day. At that moment however, Mary Margaret judged her to be of sound enough mind to engage in conversation.

"Would you like to come to my yoga class this afternoon, Emma?" the raven pixie-haired woman asked brightly.

"You're teaching a class today? Won't there be, like, no one there since there aren't any campers yet?" Emma asked, scrunching her forehead in confusion.

"What she's trying to ask is if you want to be one of her guinea pigs for her new routines," David smiled down at his wife to which Mary Margaret responded by sticking out her tongue.

"She's already roped me into it, too," Ruby added. Tink and Phillip, one of the boys' counselors, also indicated that Mary Margaret had gotten them to agree to come as well.

"Sure, why not," Emma agreed with a shrug.

"Great! You can bring Killian along too. I need some more male feedback…" All the men at the table were suddenly very engrossed in their various conversations and too focused to notice Mary Margaret's pointed looks at them.

Will Scarlet, the most junior of the counselors, clapped his hands together and gathered up his tray. "Well I believe that is my cue to flee. Gentlemen, ladies," he tipped an imaginary hat at Mary Margaret and the rest of the women before striding over to the dish cleaning station and dropping off the remains of his meal.

Emma had caught up with the flow of conversation enough by this point to examine Mary Margaret's words. "Wait, how'd you know Killian would be with me?"

"Oh, Tink told me you were going to be spending a lot of time with him!"

Emma glared at Tink who was now shrugging helplessly. "What! I just told her about Regina's arrangement…"

"Uh huh, right," Emma said dryly.

"Okay, I may have mentioned that there were some sparks between the two of you," Tink conceded with a sly grin.

"Tink!"

The small woman shrugged again and leveled a serious look at Emma. "He's a good guy, Emma. It wouldn't kill you to give him a chance."

"The type of chance you're talking about involves white dresses and doves flying off into the sunset."

"What about the type of 'chance' that just involves hot wild sex?" Ruby chimed in with a wolfish grin.

"Not helping, Ruby," Emma said exasperatedly. "Any of you. I don't need a boyfriend, I don't need a fling. I don't _want_ anything with him."

Ruby slurped the rest of her orange juice and released the straw with a soft 'pop.' "Whatevs, your loss. The boy is _hot_."

"And caring!" Tink added.

"Say the word, Emma, and I'd gladly get him to mind his own business," David pounded his closed fist against his other palm comically.

"I met him outside the craft house yesterday; he does seem nice," Mary Margaret supplied kindly.

Emma growled in frustration and quickly stood up. "Enough. I love you guys but I don't need your meddling. See you later." And with that she went to dump her tray and made a beeline for the exit. As much as she loved the close-knit atmosphere that comes with having your best friends (who are basically family) all around, Emma definitely did not enjoy the other side of the coin. The side where it apparently told her friends that any and all aspects of her life were open for improvement.

Just as she was descending the steps of the mess hall and about to go find Killian to start the grand tour, she ran headlong into the man himself. She had to brace herself by grabbing onto his upper arms so she didn't fall backwards and couldn't help noticing the hard muscles beneath her fingers. Killian mimicked her actions and Emma ended up pressed against his chest. There was an awkward moment of eye contact that lasted a beat too long in which both of them realized their close proximity and intimate position. She was the first to let go and she quickly stepped back to put some distance between them.

"Oh hey. Sorry," she said while looking at a point in space over his shoulder. "I guess come find me at the docks when you're finished eating." And with that Emma brushed past him and was once again quickly striding away from her problems.

Rubbing his chin absentmindedly where Emma's forehead had collided with it, Killian stared at her jogging away from him with a graceful lope and swinging blonde ponytail. _What in the hell had just happened?_ He'd thought they'd gotten on pretty well the previous day—granted, he couldn't actually remember the details of most of their conversations because he was fairly sure he had been sleepwalking from jetlag… But his general impression of their time together had been positive. She'd even waved him over to sit with her at lunch and introduced a few of the other staffers to him.

Killian made his way into the mess hall to get his breakfast. He had been planning on just grabbing something quick and eating it on the go because he was running late and didn't want to keep Emma waiting for him for long. However, now he thought it might be best to let her be for a little bit to calm down from whatever was bothering her.

Yesterday at lunch he'd followed Victor's example in getting a tray and utensils and loading up with food that the cook had already laid out on a counter. So this morning he repeated the steps until he found himself face to face with a wrinkled older woman behind the counter on the other side of the window that looked into the kitchen. Sharp, intelligent eyes followed him shrewdly as she readjusted the hairnet over her gray up do.

"You're late. Breakfast began at 7 o'clock," she stated matter-of-factly.

"Ah, I'm sorry. Won't happen again," Killian tried his most winning smile on the woman but she only narrowed her eyes further.

She harrumphed in grudging acceptance and continued staring at him while Killian resisted the urge to fidget. "Don't you hurt Emma. She's been through enough," she finally said with a distinctly mama bear edge to her voice.

His eyebrows pulled together in confusion. "What?"

"I saw you out there," the older woman nodded towards the front of the building where large windows looked out upon the path. "I know that look," she finished as if this explained everything. Killian wasn't sure if she was referring to a look on his face or Emma's. His frown grew even deeper.

"I assure you, ma'am, I have no intention of ever hurting her," he said evenly, willing the honesty to show through on his face as she searched it.

She nodded once. "Good," she said gruffly. "Call me Granny. Everybody else does."

Killian felt like he had just passed some kind of test. What it was testing, though, was a mystery to him.

Granny turned around without paying any more attention to him and began cleaning up the breakfast supplies as soon as he picked up a plate of scrambled eggs. He brewed a cup of tea and finally walked over with his breakfast to the table still occupied by some dawdling staffers.

"Hey man," Victor greeted him and patted a spot next to him on the bench. "This is Killian, guys. He's my new rock probie," Victor grinned at the assembled group.

A few of them he recognized from meeting yesterday or sharing a cabin with. Mary Margaret waved and beamed at him, reminding him of when she had skipped out in front of him on the path last night on his way to the bathrooms. He'd practically jumped out of his skin at her sudden appearance, but her sunny smile and eagerly friendly words had quickly placated him. He also recognized Lance, the burly fencing instructor who slept on the bunk beneath him; Phillip, one of the counselors for the boys; and Victor's girlfriend, Ruby, who had cornered him at dinner the previous day and launched into an hour-long, mostly one-sided conversation about the life stories of everyone at the camp. Killian had learned more than he ever wished to know about an ongoing prank war between a counselor named Will and the Operations Manager (and Regina's husband), Robin.

A broad-shouldered dusty blonde-haired man sitting next to Mary Margaret stood up and shook Killian's hand across the table. "Nice to meet you, Killian. I've heard a lot about you already. I'm David."

"Nice to meet you too, mate. Nothing too terrifying, I hope," Killian said with a wry smile.

"Oh it's nothing too bad," David laughed as he returned his arm to its previous position around his wife's shoulders. "You have to understand though, we don't get new faces here very often. So when we do, we like to know what kind of person we're dealing with."

David's words and actions were lighthearted but Killian sensed a hardness beneath them that was mirrored in the stern gaze that was levelled at him by the other man. Not for the first time today, Killian felt as if he were being measured up.

"Oh come on, I've told you about Killian before!" Tink chimed from the other side of the table. "Remember, he's super good at rock climbing and all that outdoorsy stuff." She scrunched her nose and waved vaguely. Being a school nurse in the middle of New York City meant Tink was not exactly an 'outdoorsy' person, as she called it. Going to college in Denver was about as adventurous as she got.

"Yeah, I read your resume when Regina hired you. Maybe before the barbeque tonight we can do some free climbing so I can get a sense of what I'm working with." Victor looked at him appraisingly.

"Sure thing, mate," Killian smiled tightly. What Tink had said was accurate—he _had_ been really good at rock climbing in college: going out to the foothills most weekends and to an indoor wall almost every weekday for his job as an instructor. But he hadn't climbed in over a year now since he'd graduated and returned home to take care of his father's failing health and business, and he was more than a little apprehensive about jumping back into the sport.

"What's this about a barbeque?" he asked to shift the focus away from himself.

"Oh, I keep forgetting you don't know!" Tink gasped. "Every year on the night before the campers return, everybody gets together out in the main circle of camp and we cook a bunch of meat and play games."

"It's sanity's last hurrah," Ruby told him with a wink. "The last chance we'll have to swear, brawl, drink, and make out in broad daylight." She shared a grin with Victor at that.

"There'll still be Roland, Grace, and Henry," Mary Margaret reminded. "So don't yell your curses too loud."

"And I won't tolerate any brawling, missy. That goes for you too, Lance," David glared at Ruby and then Lance, who looked affronted at being singled out.

"You're not gonna be a prick now that you're AD, right?" he asked David.

David smiled at Lance innocently. "Only if you don't get on my bad side."

After finishing breakfast and bidding farewell to his new coworkers, Killian walked the short distance to the lakeshore. At first he couldn't find Emma, but immediately spotted her as he rounded the corner of the boat shack. Once again, she took his breath away. It seemed that was going to be a regular occurrence.

Next to the boat shack a series of metal bars were suspended between varying heights of wooden posts to create a pull-up station. With her palms firmly grabbing onto the highest of the bars, Emma was suspended in air and currently in the process of pulling her bodyweight up inch by inch. Even though she was facing him, Killian could tell that she hadn't noticed him yet being so absorbed in her exercise as she was. He took a moment to admire the cool focus she displayed and impressive demonstration of strength.

He cleared his throat softly after a minute and her sparkling green eyes immediately snapped to his. She finished the pull-up and then hopped lightly to her feet.

"Hey there," she said with no trace of her former irritation or awkwardness _. Nothing like a good workout to clear your head_ , she thought. "So since you've already seen the lake and pretty much everything down here, I thought we'd start by going around camp and I can explain things on the way."

"Lead the way, love," he said and smiled that silly boyish grin that made her forget how to inhale oxygen for a second.

She mentally shook her thoughts and picked up her water bottle from where it was laying on the ground next to a post and made her way past him back to the main path.

"You're a fan of those diminutives, aren't you?" she asked curiously once they got into a groove. She didn't especially mind, but it was odd to hear all the time.

"Aye, I suppose you could say that, _love_ ," he replied seductively. Emma let out a bark of a laugh and began swinging her water bottle as she walked alongside him. Once again he was struck by the light that seemed to radiate from her.

"So this that we're walking on here," she pointed to the dirt road beneath their feet, "is the main path through camp. It's the only one wide and even enough for a car to drive on because we have to pull it right up to the shore to unload the rafts when we use them, which isn't too often..." Emma shrugged and considered it. "Usually only on the big camping trip at the end of each session."

"And how long are the sessions?" Killian was starting to realize just how much he was clueless about at the camp.

"The first session lasts about a month—that's for the younger kids like Roland, Henry, and Grace. It starts tomorrow and ends right before the Fourth of July, and then we get that long weekend off and the older set of munchkins are here till the middle of August when the schools start back up. So that's like 6 weeks, I think," Emma explained the calendar that had been second nature to her for a decade now.

Killian nodded thoughtfully as he pictured the schedule in his head. "How old are the next set of campers?"

"Well Henry's just on the cusp of being moved to the next group, so they range from 11 to 17 years old. But most of them are around 13 or 14. Once they start getting older they start to lose interest in the silly camp games or get summer jobs."

He chanced a glance at her and saw her looking thoughtfully at the trees lining the path. "You didn't though," he said slowly.

"No, I didn't… Actually, I hated it here most of my first summer," she remembered with a fond smile. "It wasn't until David—who was 17 and gunning for a counselor job the next year—luckily noticed me and forced me to participate in all the activities that I really started to like it. Ended up crying my eyes out with the rest of those idiots at the end of the summer and I've been coming back every year since. The rest, as they say, is history!"

Killian furrowed his brows. "Pardon me if this is an insensitive question, love, but did you not say that David was your brother? Why wouldn't he have noticed you?"

"Oh right, I keep forgetting that you don't know all my dirty laundry," Emma said with a self-conscious laugh. "That's a pretty novel experience for me here…Okay, David and I aren't _really_ brother and sister. That's why we don't have the same last name, too."

"Ah, I'd also been wondering about that," Killian said when she paused.

"I grew up in foster care and group homes. One summer they sent me here as part of some 'help the disadvantaged kids' campaign," she began, looking at her feet. "I was adopted by Ruth, David's mom, when I was 14—about three months after the end of camp that first year. David and I got really close during the summer but after camp ended I was placed in this awful group home. But it was in David's school district so he saw me the first day of classes. He noticed how miserable I was and that night he went home and begged Ruth to take me in. She's the nicest woman on the planet, so of course she agreed once she saw the rags I was dressed in. It took her until Thanksgiving to get everything finalized—which is actually pretty impressive for the system, but then again, who else would want an angry little preteen…" She shrugged and it was as if her pain was someone else's and she was looking at it through a distorted window that only gave her glimpses of that troubled girl's feelings.

Killian had no idea what to say. Sure, his life wasn't exactly marshmallows and sunshine, but at least he'd always had a brother who loved him; no matter how bad things got at home, Liam always came through for him.

She seemed to sense that Killian was a little shocked by her honesty—hell, so was she. She didn't usually share the not-so-illustrious beginnings of Emma Swan to people she'd just met the day before. All her friends at the camp already knew it all, and she really didn't have anyone she'd ever felt close enough to outside of camp to tell it to. As she glanced over at Killian's furrowed brown and faraway expression from the corner of her eye she realized with a pang of regret why she didn't dwell on the past in front of strangers: he pitied her.

Emma cleared her throat and resumed her swinging of her arms—if Killian's tell was scratching behind his ear, then hers was definitely her restless arms. "Well on that note… this is the archery range," she said awkwardly and pointed to the targets on the other side of the clearing. "Robin and Mary Margaret—have you met her?—well, they usually switch off running this station. Oh and there's Robin now—ROB!" she yelled at the distant figure she recognized as her somewhat-related-but-not-really friend.

Robin paused in his task of mowing the clearing and looked up when Emma called his name "Emma!" He dropped the manual push mower, jogged over to them, and immediately lifted Emma off the ground in a bone-crushing hug. She giggled breathlessly as she hugged him back.

"Regina said you weren't coming till later," Emma gasped out eventually.

She felt him shrug. "I got fed up with going through receipts and staring at the computer."

"What a paragon of the business community you are!" Emma teased.

Once she was finally back on solid ground and breathing normally again, Robin squinted down at her and admonished, "We missed you at Christmas, young lady."

Emma sighed, she'd been expecting this. "Yeah, I know. And I was really bummed I couldn't be there. But I _was_ in Thailand at the time so I _feel_ like I had a somewhat valid excuse," she said sheepishly.

"That you most certainly did, and we're very proud of you. That doesn't mean that I didn't miss you tons though," Robin responded without missing a beat. He pulled her back into a one-armed hugged that quickly morphed into a headlock and made Emma laugh uncontrollably.

Killian watched their interaction with great interest. Not only did Emma seem to be able to quickly go from serious to giggling in no time at all, she also appeared to have strong bonds with almost all the staff. He had only felt that close to a handful of people in his life, and probably only his brother and Tink were left at this point. Killian couldn't help wondering if this was what his life could be like if he stayed here year after year like everyone else seemed to do. He also couldn't help but be jealous of Robin's ability to set Emma at ease at the drop of a hat and make her laugh so much.

"You must be Killian," Robin said after releasing Emma from his spirited roughhousing but still keeping one arm slung over her shoulders. He extended his free hand and shook Killian's heartily. "My wife has told me all about you."

Killian was experiencing déjà vu. "Aye, it seems I'm somewhat of a local celebrity these days."

Emma smiled at him but it didn't seem to reach her eyes. "I'm giving him the grand tour," she said, craning her neck to look at Robin. "Want to join us?"

"I wish I could, but I've got to get the field clear and make sure all the bows are strung properly yet," Robin replied with a grimace. "But save me a seat at the barbeque, okay? I want to hear all about Asia."

"Of course!" Emma twisted around in his grasp to hug him tightly once more and then she was off, leaving Killian to scramble to catch up.

"See you, guys!" Robin called over his shoulder, shaking his head as he ambled back to the mower.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Here begins the time jumping in earnest. Anything _not_ set in the present will be in italics and marked as such. Review if you so wish (they are exciting to read, I must admit and subtly hint at...) and do tell if the cacophony of characters and flashbacks is too much. I am truly grateful for all the favorites, follows, reviews, etc; I hope you enjoy

* * *

"And this is the back entrance to the mess hall where the kitchen is," Emma said as she ended the tour. "Don't mind the smell, Granny keeps a compost pile over there to make soil for her vegetable garden." She scrunched her nose and pointed to the pile swarmed by bugs.

Killian nodded approvingly. "Very resourceful of her."

"Yeah, I guess. Hey, so lunch is about to start," she glanced at her watch, "now, actually. So you can go ahead and eat. Let's meet up at about 1:30, back at the main office? I'll check you out a walkie-talkie and clipboard and stuff."

"Are you not eating, love?"

"Nah, not feeling it right now. I'll grab something later. Sometimes I like to run during the lunch break if I've got energy to burn. Have a good lunch though!" She plastered on a smile and quickly turned around before he could protest.

"Have fun, Swan!" he yelled at her swiftly retreating figure.

* * *

 _10 years ago_

 _David squinted and attempted to shield his eyes with his hand. He really needed to remember to bring a hat when he went kayaking. He looked out over the water where he was paddling and sighed contentedly. The calm breeze that drifted over the lake tickled his unkempt hair where it flopped over his forehead. He truly did love it here._

 _Just then a flash of yellow on the shore caught his attention. He leaned forward in the small boat and focused on the tree line set a few dozen feet back from the shore. There it was again, but this time he could make out a person attached to the bright color—a scrawny girl with long tangled blonde hair. She was creeping through the trees closest to the lake and heading away from the dock and boat shack._

 _David frowned. The girl couldn't have been more than 12 or 13, and the younger campers were required to be accompanied by a counselor or staff member at all times when not within the main cluster of buildings in the camp._

 _Mind made up, he began paddling with broad strokes back to shore._

 _Granted, David wasn't exactly supposed to be out on the water alone either. But being one of the few oldest campers, he didn't belong to any particular group or schedule. He and the other veterans were basically unofficial counselors-in-training and were allowed to float around and choose which activities they wanted to develop. His best friend Robin mainly hung out at the archery range or the fencing station, and Mary Margaret—the daughter of the camp director and the most infuriating girl he'd ever met—split her time between crafts, yoga, and archery. David on the other hand, made sure to devote his time equally among all the activities and stations as he wanted to be familiar with everything. He had big dreams of rising through the ranks to one day get into the management of the camp._

 _Though he was fond of almost all the activities (apart from yoga; he still didn't understand how people could bend like that and enjoy it… It also didn't help that Mary Margaret tormented him to no end when he fell over trying to do Warrior II that one time), he always seemed to find himself back at the lake. Kayaking, swimming—hell, even just lounging around on the dock reading a book. He loved it all._

 _And the kayak instructor, Sydney, had told David in no uncertain terms that this would be his last year working at the camp, complaining about bugs and rashes in unmentionable places…_

" _Hey!" David called out once he hopped out of the kayak a few feet from the shoreline. That was apparently a mistake, however, as the girl whipped around to look at him briefly before sprinting off into the trees away from him. Cursing under his breath, David ran the boat aground and abandoned it on the rocky beach to chase after her._

" _Hey, stop!" he yelled again to the mass of blonde curls streaming behind the tiny girl ahead. She was light-footed and quick, but David still had the advantage with his longer legs. He caught up to her just behind the mess hall and grabbed one of her hands to spin her around. Wide green eyes stared at him with panic in their depths._

" _Let go of me," the girl snarled at him. Her voice and body language had an air of steely fierceness to them that her frightened eyes didn't match._

" _Not until you tell me what you were doing back at the lake," David panted. "And why you aren't with your group." The girl didn't look the least bit winded from their flight through camp._

" _What's it to you? You're not a counselor." She narrowed her eyes._

" _No, but I still care and I wanna make sure you're all right." The girl visibly started at that as if she had never heard those words before and it made David's heart clench. "What's your name?"_

" _Emma," she said relaxing fractionally under his loose grip on her wrist._

" _Well, Emma, it's a pleasure to meet you. My name's David. Why don't we head back down to the lake and you can tell me why you're hiding from your group."_

 _From that day on, he and Emma were inseparable—a little reluctantly on her part at first, but she soon warmed up to him after she realized that he wasn't going anywhere. He invited her over to sit with him and his friends at mealtimes and she slowly began to open up and even laugh once in a while. He and Robin teased her like the little sister they both wished they had and even the usually haughty Mary Margaret joined them in welcoming Emma into their little group. (Years later when David and Mary Margaret had started dating—"freaking finally," as Robin described it—Mary Margaret would tell him that seeing David take Emma under his wing and showing such brotherly affection for her was the tipping point in realizing her buried attraction to him.)_

 _Bit by bit she shared her story with him and always in a forced casualness that David pretended not to notice._

" _My old foster father hated lasagna," Emma said offhandedly next to him in line for lunch one day. "He didn't let me have dinner for a week after I made it once on my night to cook."_

 _It made his blood boil to hear the awful things that have happened to her, but David forced himself to tamp down his newfound brotherly protective streak. He covered her small hand with his for a brief moment and then reached around her to put an extra helping of lasagna on her tray._

 _Every time that she offered some little piece of herself he made sure to do the same—telling her about how his mom raised him by herself after his dad had died while driving drunk, and how this camp was what he looked forward to all year but he still felt guilty leaving his mom alone even if she told him not to worry about her._

 _Soon it was as if Emma had always been a part of their little group and he could tell that she was truly enjoying herself at camp. She did eventually make friends her own age too (once she started actually taking part in her age section's activities) and soon more and more kids were somehow folded into their little circle._

 _By the end of the summer David was promising Emma he'd help her figure out a way to come back next year, even though they both knew that was something he couldn't actually guarantee. Emma appreciated the thought anyway. Little did they know, however, that their separation would be so short-lived._

* * *

 _Ping!_

Emma stared at the string of notifications on her phone that popped up as soon as she turned it off airplane mode after her run.

 _ **Ruby Lucas has added Killian Jones to the group conversation "CAMP DOPE!1"**_

 **Ruby:** _ **I figured he's earned it after that lunch**_

 **Jeff:** _ **Def.**_

 **Mulan:** _ **That was pretty funny, new guy**_

 _ **Ruby Lucas has changed the name of the group conversation to "Pizza Hat Delivery Service"**_

 _ **Victor Whale sent a photo**_

Tapping on the small icon on her screen to enlarge the picture, she saw Killian smiling goofily with a burnt pizza balanced jauntily on the top of his head.

 **David:** _ ***clapping emoji***_

Apparently she'd missed something at lunch.

Emma turned her phone off and tossed it on her bunk. She was still coming down from the high of her run and couldn't really register any other emotion besides general curiosity at her friends' sudden and seemingly enthusiastic welcome of Killian into their midst.

She shrugged internally and gathered up her shower caddy, towel, and a change of clothes and headed out of her cabin towards the girls' bathrooms.

She spotted Mary Margaret walking towards her on the path and waved. "Hey, Emma!"

"Hey, M. Oh, I'm glad I saw you. Question: how intense is your yoga sesh gonna be?"

Mary Margaret considered, "Not too strenuous, probably more on the technical side. I have some new flows I want to try out… Why do you ask?"

"I just got back from a run and I wanted to know if I should bother showering beforehand or if I'd just get all gross later on again," she responded running a hand through her damp hair.

"Oh yeah, you'll probably be fine showering now."

"Cool, see you in a bit then! 2, right?"

Mary Margaret nodded and Emma made to step around her and continue down the path but the other woman just turned more fully towards her.

"Killian's still coming, too, right?" she asked hopefully.

"Um, yeah. I think so." Emma peered at her suspiciously. "Before lunch I told him to meet me at the office before yoga and I'd help him set up his walkie and other supplies. Why?"

"Oh, nothing! I just saw him at lunch and he said you seemed annoyed at him."

Emma rolled her eyes. "I just felt like going for a run instead of lunch. It's not a big deal."

Mary Margaret cocked her head to one side. "Okay, just make sure to eat something later."

"I'll stop by the kitchen and see if Granny's got any leftovers. Happy, _mom_?"

Mary Margaret grinned. "Yes, _dear_. See you, then!"

Emma continued on to the bathrooms, and quickly showered and got dressed again. It was still almost 45 minutes until she'd told Killian to meet her, but she made her way to the admin building anyway.

Unlike most of the cabins scattered around the camp, the administration building had multiple rooms in it. In the back was Regina's office and next to it was a large conference room where they held staff meetings. The front room of the structure was a comfortable living room complete with a small wet bar that served as the staff lounge. This building was also the only one besides Granny's kitchen that had air conditioning, so it was understandably a popular hangout.

Stepping into the building, Emma immediately felt the lingering unpleasant heat from her workout leave her body as the cool air hit her. She sighed and firmly shut the door behind her.

"What's up?" Lance greeted from where he was laying on the sectional couch with a remote dangling limply from his hand.

"Hey. Whatcha watching?" Emma walked over to lean on the armrest.

"Golf." She made a face and he shrugged. "I was thinking of taking a nap and nothing puts me to sleep like watching old white guys walk on lawns."

"True. Scoot over."

Lance shifted until he was pressed against the back of the couch and patted the newly opened space in front of him. She plopped down and snuggled into his welcoming warmth, failing to suppress a shiver as the air conditioning did its job a little too well. He chuckled and reached above his head to get the flannel blanket that lived there and spread it across them both.

"Good?"

Emma nodded and tucked her head under his chin. She knew that he sensed something was off with her but he made no other comments about it. This was why she got along so well with him. Lance always seemed to understand when she didn't feel like talking and never pushed her into anything she wasn't comfortable with.

Lance chuckled again. She was already feeling the pull of unconsciousness and she let herself enjoy the simple comfort of the situation as she drifted off to sleep.

A little while later Emma woke to the sounds of sports announcers arguing on the TV and Lance's soft rumbling snores. She felt refreshed after her nap but had no desire to get up and leave the cocoon of blankets and Lance's limbs that she had somehow gotten twisted up in, so she kept her eyes closed.

Muted footsteps sounded from outside and the door creaked open. The newcomer paused in the doorway for a beat and then softly closed the door. Apparently this was enough to rouse Lance as she felt him shift next to her and then say, "Hey Killian."

Emma froze. Wrapped up in the pleasantness of her nap, she'd forgotten that she'd told Killian to meet her here.

Killian still hadn't moved from the entrance. "Hi Lance." His voice sounded strained and Emma wondered what was bothering him.

She felt the deep rumble of Lance's muffled laughter beneath her hands where they were resting on his chest. "We're just friends, dude."

 _Oh._

Wait, Killian thought she and Lance were—nope, she refused to finish that sentence, even in her mind. Lance was basically another one of her pseudo-brothers. Sure, he'd been the first boy she'd ever seen naked because Mulan had once convinced them to go skinny dipping. But that experience had been scarring enough for both of them that they immediately settled into a solid friendship afterwards.

"Ah." She could picture Killian scratching nervously behind his ear and looking adorably awkward in the situation.

"She likes you, you know," Lance said slowly.

"How can you tell?" Was that cautious hopefulness she heard in Killian's voice? _What was happening?_

Lance was silent for so long that Emma was sure Killian thought he wasn't going to answer him. She knew from experience though that he was just trying to carefully choose his words to make them count.

"I know it may seem like she's super close with all of us now—but trust me, it took a long time for her to open up. Just give her some time."

"But what if she decides she doesn't need another person in her life. It seems like she's got herself a perfect family already."

Lance was quiet again but she could feel the gears working in his brain. "I'll only tell you this because I think you should know what you're dealing with, but last summer—" Emma tensed and was almost positive Lance noticed "—was, for lack of a better term, a shit show. The gist of it was Emma got hurt—bad. Physically and otherwise. I'll let her tell you the whole story when she thinks you've deserved it, but just be careful."

"I will."

They were silent then and Emma could almost feel the serious stare down Lance was leveling at Killian.

"Good," he finally said, and she knew that with that one word Lance was actually communicating a lot more than the simple acknowledgement of Killian's promise.

The men's talk then turned to the sports program still playing on the TV and the tense atmosphere was brushed away.

Eventually once they ran out of quips about how boring golf was, Killian said, "Tell her I'll meet her at Mary Margaret's yoga class when she wakes up. She was going to help me with my walkie-talkie but I think she needs the sleep."

"I'll tell her."

"Thanks." Pause. "And, you know… thank you," he said slower and with the weight of deeper meaning.

"No problem."

"See you around, Lance."

The sound of the door closing again and Killian's retreating footsteps reminded Emma that she should probably start 'waking up', but Lance beat her to it.

"You can wake up now," he said conversationally.

Emma cringed. "Was it that obvious?" She cleared her throat and sat up.

"Only to me." He shrugged and then faced her fully. "Probably best you heard that though. What are you gonna do?"

She hesitated but then came to a decision.

"Find out if he deserves it."


	4. Chapter 4

"Okay, guys, this next move is just for the experienced people at first. Everybody else just watch what we're doing and then if you're feeling up to it, you can join us on the next go," Mary Margaret called out in the serene voice which most of their friends liked to call her 'yoga teacher voice.' Then, turning to Emma and Ruby who had their mats along the side of the studio, she said in a more conversational tone, "Ready for a handstand, ladies? Okay, let's get into the first position…"

Emma moved into downward facing dog with confidence and mentally prepared herself. Mary Margaret didn't offer any more instructions after those initial words and Ruby and Emma didn't need any. They'd done this move plenty of times before, usually on the floor of their cabin when they got bored or antsy or something. At least for Emma, doing a handstand was incredibly calming because it required so much core strength and mental focus. She could just zone out and make her world go upside down.

She did a few practice hops and then swung her legs up into the air in one fluid motion and stabilized herself once she was fully in the position. All the blood rushed to her head but she focused on keeping all her muscles tight and in place.

Emma couldn't tell how long she stayed in the handstand. The sudden disorientation of being upside down coupled with the strain on her arm, core, and leg muscles to keep everything stable meant that none of her mental acuity was focused on the passage of time.

"Ready?" she heard Mary Margaret say from her place at the front of the room. Emma and Ruby both hummed their agreement and all three women painstakingly lowered their legs back down to the floor inch by inch. Once they were finally down they went into child's pose to rest for a couple seconds and then sat up.

The first thing Emma noticed when she got upright again was that all the blood that had settled in her head was now swiftly rushing to the rest of her body. The second thing she noticed was Killian's wide blue eyes focused intently on her. His mouth was partially open in such a clichéd "awestruck" sort of way that it made Emma chuckle. Seeing her notice him and smile must have shook Killian out of his stupor. He quickly looked away and ran a hand through his hair in what was supposed to be an offhand manner.

"What do you say, guys, wanna try it?" Mary Margaret addressed the rest of the group brightly. Grunts of begrudging assent filtered back to her and she beamed at them and clapped her hands once. "Great! Okay, I'll go through it slowly step by step and everybody can attempt as much as they feel comfortable with. Some of you may just be able to lift your legs off the ground for a second or two, and that's perfectly fine! First, down dog."

Before Emma and Ruby could begin the sequence Mary Margaret subtly got their attention and nodded at the group. Getting the message, they both turned around to face their coworkers and see if any needed help as Mary Margaret continued to give instructions.

Emma hadn't really been paying attention to the rest of the people during the majority of the class, she'd just melted into the flows and focused on her movements. Mary Margaret was trying out some new inversion sequences and arm strengtheners she'd picked up over her year teaching part-time at a gym in Boston. She supposed it _had_ been a bit technical and maybe some of the more inexperienced of Mary Margaret's test subjects would find it challenging. Not that Emma particularly minded. She'd always been athletic and found that yoga really helped her gain not only strength and stamina, but self-confidence as well. It just felt so good to be able to move so powerfully and know that she was in complete control of it all.

"Aurora, you're gonna knock Phil out if you keep kicking like that!" Ruby rushed over to where Aurora was flailing her legs uselessly out behind her, dangerously close to her boyfriend's head.

Emma scanned the room and tried to find any other damsels in distress. Ah, _of course_. Killian _would_ be the princess that needed saving. The damsel in question was currently resting on his hands and knees looking worriedly over at his neighbor, who just happened to be Mulan. By no means a faithful yogi herself, the mixed martial arts instructor knew a little something about balance and core strength, so it came as no surprise to Emma that she had already achieved a nearly flawless handstand for a couple seconds and was now on her second try.

Picking her way through the grid of mats, Emma came up to Killian's and said in her best playful-yet-still-encouraging tone, "Think you're up for it, Jones?"

Killian whipped his head around to face her and for the second time in 10 minutes he looked bashful. He sat up to lean back on his haunches and— _yup, there he goes_ —scratched behind his ear. "I'm afraid this particular position has me somewhat flummoxed, Swan."

She laughed, mildly impressed at his use of the word _flummox_ in this situation. "Well you won't get anywhere sitting on your ass. Here, let me help you." She motioned for him to go into down dog and nodded reassuringly as he did so.

"Okay, try to get your spine in line with your arms. Like one unbroken line." She put her palm flat on his back between the shoulder blades and gently pressed him into the mat further.

He realigned himself and soon was in a perfect down dog.

"Good. Yup, just like that." She realized she was still touching him and quickly lifted her hand from his back. "Um, okay. Now you're gonna bend one knee and bring it towards your body… Yup, good. But keep the other one stretched out and active too."

He responded immediately to her directions and she was a little surprised at how well he listened to her.

"Okay, now the hard part. So swing the straight leg out and up, and do the same with your bent leg. Don't try to get all the way on the first try, just hop like that for a few times and see how it feels."

Killian swept his left leg up in a wide arc and attempted to lift his right leg up too but couldn't balance his weight effectively. He held both legs off the ground for a split second before the heel of his right foot found the mat with a muted thump.

"That's okay. That was a good first try," Emma encouraged somewhat awkwardly. She didn't really know how to teach this. "Okay, um, let's try again, yeah?"

Killian was breathing harder at this point but nodded all the same. He repositioned himself and tried again. And again... And again. Finally on his fourth attempt he managed to get both legs pointed more or less vertical in the air. He couldn't keep them locked together, however, so they were scissoring and about to send him toppling over onto his back.

Emma quickly stepped onto his mat so that her toes and his fingertips were an inch apart. She reached out and grabbed an ankle in each of her hands. "It's okay. I've got you. Now try to bring your legs together and pointed straight at the ceiling." She guided his legs into the correct position, making sure he was in control before gently letting go of him and stepping back a half step, arms still outstretched in case he looked like he was about to fall.

"You did it, Killian!" She felt a surge of pride both for herself for successfully teaching him and for him actually doing it.

Killian's face was beet red and scrunched up in intense concentration.

"Lass—can't—"

Luckily she understood and quickly stepped in to help bring his legs back down to the mat. Once all his extremities were safely on the ground where they should be, Killian rolled onto his back and let out a giant sigh. Emma sat down at the foot of his mat and chuckled at the sight before her.

As soon as he had regained the use of language, he said somewhat gruffly, "Bloody hell, Swan. That was…" She laughed as he searched for the right word to describe what he was feeling. "Intense," he finished lamely.

"Yeah, I love that one."

Killian snorted, "I don't know if I would go quite that far." He propped himself up on his elbows and smiled widely at her.

She laughed loudly as she stood up and stretched. Once she was standing, Emma looked around and noticed that people were starting to gather their things and roll up their mats. She peered back down at Killian who still had made no move to leave and was staring up happily at her. Shaking her head, she reached both hands out to him to offer to help him up. With an overly dramatic sigh, he took her hands and gracefully hopped up.

Just as she was about to turn around and head back to her mat to roll it up, he stopped her with a hand on her forearm. Emma turned back to face him and raised an eyebrow.

"Uh, thank you, Emma." She raised an eyebrow at him suspiciously. "For assisting me," Killian finished sincerely.

She smiled warmly at him. "It was my pleasure." And the funny thing was that she truly meant it.

* * *

Killian eyed the cliff face towering before him with a calculating sweep of his gaze. It was about 35 feet of natural rock face with an overhanging lip on the top. He mapped out several possible routes to take to the top, some that were surely pocked with well-worn hand- and foot-holds, but also some that he suspected wouldn't be so easily spotted by the unexperienced climber. Sure, it'd been a while, but climbing was second nature to him.

 _Like riding a bicycle,_ Killian thought wryly.

That was the expression, right?

"How about a friendly wager, _mate_?" Victor smirked mischievously at him, mistaking his appraisal of the wall for wariness.

Killian grinned right back. "Absolutely. What are the stakes?"

Ruby laughed from behind them. "Cocky bastard, are we? I like it." Turning to her boyfriend, she put a hand on her hip and tauntingly asked, "Yeah, Vic, what are the stakes?"

Victor considered for a moment and then stretched his lips in a wide shit-eating grin. "How about old rules, eh guys?" Peals of laughter erupted from the assembled spectators.

Killian furrowed his brows in confusion. "And what are these old rules, if I may ask?"

"Loser takes a lap across the lake…" Ruby told him with an excited gleam in her eyes.

"S'not so bad…"

"…Ass naked." More guffaws of laughter rang out as his eyes widened.

"Ah."

Victor extended a hand for Killian to shake. "What do you say, rock probie?"

Nothing like a little competition and humiliation to forge friendships.

Killian looked the other man square in the eye and grasped his hand just a little firmer than was probably necessary.

"You're on, _mate_."

* * *

"Okay, just hold it for a couple seconds more… that's it…mhmm…"

"Do you have the damn picture or not?" Emma gritted out between clenched teeth.

"It's focusing…light's not right…ooh, okay, that one was better, but still…"

Emma growled. "Mary Margaret, I swear to god—"

"Got it! You can stop now."

Emma quickly dropped her legs to her chest and then the hull of the kayak on which she had been balancing. She didn't even bother attempting to twist around to get settled in the seat again, just dropped herself over the side of the kayak and bobbed alongside it.

"Holy shit," she panted out as she kicked her legs lightly beneath the water and rested her forearms on the boat.

"This is so cool! I knew it'd work!" Mary Margaret squealed from the dock several kayak-lengths away as she waved Emma's phone in her hand.

"Easy for you to say," Emma grumbled as she began to swim one-handedly over to the end of the dock, dragging the kayak along behind her.

When she'd agreed to Mary Margaret's excited suggestion that they try to do handstands on kayaks, Emma was skeptical. That skepticism was amplified tenfold when it ended up that Emma would be the only one attempting the very difficult pose on the unstable boat in water.

Mary Margaret retied the kayak to its post and gave Emma a hand up. Once Emma had two feet solidly on the worn wood of the dock, Mary Margaret thrust her phone in her face and positively beamed at her.

Emma had to admit, it _was_ a cool picture. The afternoon sun perfectly silhouetted Emma's upside form as she balanced on her hands on the kayak. You could just barely make out the deep green of the kayak and the soft gold of Emma's long hair suspended beneath her head.

All she could say was a soft "wow" but Mary Margaret was satisfied.

"I know, right!" She took back the phone from Emma's hands and began tapping away. "This will make _such_ a great profile picture for you. And you definitely needed a new one…" And there was the real reason for this excursion.

"Hey! I like that picture of me with the frog," Emma responded indignantly.

Mary Margaret just snorted and continued her tapping. "Yes, yes. It was a cute picture, but seriously, Emma? Six months with the same profile pic?"

Emma huffed. "Well we don't all have a billion professional wedding photos to cycle through."

"There!" she exclaimed triumphantly, pointedly not responding to Emma's comment. "What should the caption be?"

"I dunno…just no stupid song lyric or poetic quote or other bullshit."

Mary Margaret tapped her chin with her forefinger thoughtfully for a few moments. Soon her eyes lit up. "I've got it!" she said and began furiously typing away. Once she was done she handed the phone back to Emma for approval.

Emma stared at the three words below the picture and felt immeasurably happy.

 _Home sweet home_

* * *

Killian never had gotten around to learning how to ride a bike.

Every pitifully disused fiber in his body was protesting each new movement. He'd heard about climbers who got out of practice losing muscle and complaining that coming back into the sport was even harder the second time around, but he'd never really thought it would happen to him. One, because he hadn't been planning on giving up climbing ever. Two, because as Ruby had so aptly pointed out earlier, Killian was nothing if not a cocky bastard.

Despite his grimacing and bodily pain, Killian was just a few feet below Victor's position three quarters of the way up the cliff. One good leg up and he'd be in the lead.

Shouts and catcalls from below barely registered in his mind so he had no idea whether they were meant to be encouragement for him or his opponent. Besides, he knew the one person whose support he really craved wasn't down there.

After the yoga class Ruby had announced in quite the official manner that Victor and Killian's rock climbing "match" would start in 15 minutes, but by that time Mary Margaret had already whisked Emma away murmuring excitedly about something.

"Seizing up yet, old man?" Victor called over to him in what was obviously supposed to be a taunt but ended up as more of a grunt as he attempted to keep his weight balanced precariously between three outstretched limbs.

"You…wish," Killian choked out as he swung his right arm high to grab hold of a decent sized outcropping of rock, groaning in pain as his bicep grudgingly acceded to his command to pull the rest of him up. First a fairly hard yoga class and now rock climbing. He was going to be incredibly sore tomorrow.

Upon seeing his opponent gaining on him, Victor scrambled to reach up as well. Coming to a stable position, he rested his forehead against a smooth portion of rock and panted heavily. "Shit."

Killian managed a grimaced chuckle as his left leg found another foothold. "Aye. Shit, indeed."

"C'mon fellas!" He recognized David's booming voice. "Don't embarrass me!"

"By all means, Dave, give it a go!" Killian yelled over his shoulder and was gratified by muffled laughter from the ground far below.

At this point Killian and Victor were neck and neck on the wall with only a few feet to the top. This was, however, the most difficult portion of the climb as the cliff jutted out at the top to form a slight overhang. They would be climbing at a slight diagonal from their positions up to the precipice, relying almost solely on arm strength.

With a rush of determination Killian began the torturous ascent, ignoring the straining of his arm muscles as they supported almost all of his weight. Arm over arm he went, legs doing nothing more than keeping his body at the right angle by toeing the face of the wall. Killian blocked out all the raucous shouts from below, his awareness of Victor's position parallel to him, and the throbbing of his muscles so that all he focused on was the next handhold in front of him.

Finally, _finally_ , his hand grasped the wide horizontal surface of the top of the cliff and he shoved his elbow up onto the shelf. With one final thrust that was more willpower than physical strength, he lifted himself up until his entire body was laying on the top.

His senses came rushing back to his awareness all at once. The din of the crowd on the ground was echoing all around him. He looked over to Victor to see him struggling to pull himself all the way up onto the ledge, his legs still dangling uselessly below. Not bothering to stand up, Killian scooted ungracefully over to where the other man's torso lay. He grabbed onto Victor's shoulders and helped him to slide all the way up, ropes still dangling off the cliff edge. They both then collapsed side by side and sweaty limbs spread-eagled.

Victor was the first to regain his wits and opened an eye to peer at Killian. "Looks like you beat me, probie."

Killian's mouth quirked in some semblance of a smile. "I'd say we both got our asses handed to us. What do you say we call it a tie?"

"I think I could live with that." Victor managed a wry grin and groaned as he flipped himself skyward. "Ruby's never gonna let me live this down."

Killian copied his movements and ended up staring at the drooping branches of the trees above them. He laughed, which quickly turned into a cough as his diaphragm objected the sharp actions vehemently. "I bet she'll quite enjoy the view though."

Victor groaned again and threw his dusty hands over his brow. "Serves me right for bringing up the old rules, I suppose."

Killian laughed again, this time with more success. "So, mate, shall we rejoin our admirers?"

"That we shall."

They both stood up creakily and righted their ropes. Victor called down to where David and Phil were secured to the other ends to let them know they were coming.

Groaning at each jolt that went through his calf muscles, Killian carefully eased himself down the rock face. Once they were on solid ground he bowed and tipped an invisible cap to the small crowd, earning cheers and pats on the back.

After they were both untangled from their equipment and had thoroughly stretched they all made their way back to the main area of camp.

Killian had almost forgotten about the barbeque planned for the evening until David veered off from the group saying he had to get the meat from the kitchen freezers to start grilling. By the time they got to the open circle of grass in the center of camp there were already people sitting at picnic tables and playing croquet.

Victor whooped loudly when they got within earshot of the rest and started a raucous chorus of "We Are The Champions." He was met with quizzical looks from the various staff until Ruby took pity on them and explained.

"These two just literally performed their job descriptions and are acting like it's some sort of big deal," she said, gesturing to Victor and Killian who were now high fiving each other like preteens.

"Well I'm glad you all are here," Mary Margaret told the newcomers and handed various items to the ones closest to her. "Now go help set up the tables and the buffet line."

They did as they were told and soon the clearing looked every bit the perfect American barbeque, down to the red and white checkered table cloths on the tables and people in bag chairs sipping on cold beers.

"Alright, everybody. Quiet down for a sec." David's booming voice sounded throughout the people milling about and the voices quickly died down.

"It is my great honor and privilege to welcome you all to another opening barbeque!" His words were met with enthusiastic cheering and David had to shush them once again. "Holy crap, I forgot how obnoxious you all are…" More cheers and laughter. " _Anyways,_ we need to take care of some announcements before Robin and I start the grilling, so shut up. First, as you all know by now, this year I am the Assistant Director at camp—"

"More like Assistant Pompous Ass," Will shouted from where he was lounging in a bag chair. Someone threw a plastic bag of hotdog buns at his head and he spilled his beer. "Oy!"

David just scowled at Will and continued on with his speech. "And that means that counselors will be reporting to me directly. I've got a lot of ideas for improvements—" Killian heard several groans from the audience "—and I'm excited to get the ball rolling this year."

"Next, you'll notice we have a new face among us." The owner of said face felt a blush blossom on his cheeks as every eye pointed towards him. "Most of you have probably met Killian already, but he'll be our new rock climbing instructor with Victor. So make him feel welcome and don't haze him too much. Actually, speaking of which, Vic? Killian?" David winked at the both of them and grinned. "Ready for your swim tonight?" Those who had witnessed the challenge earlier roared in laughter.

Killian smiled good-naturedly and happened to catch Emma's eye from across the crowd. He hadn't seen her join the festivities and was pleased to see her smiling at him. He grinned even broader.

"Okay, I think that's all the announcements I have until the next staff meeting—11pm tomorrow, don't forget! It's late because we'll still be helping the campers settle into their cabins and get everything up and running on the first day. Be up and ready to greet them bright and early tomorrow at 8!" Camp business over, David settled into his too-old-to-be-a-frat-boy party persona and called out, "Let's get the meat started and the drinks flowing!"

* * *

"How was your climb with Vic?"

Killian hadn't even noticed Emma's arrival next to him amidst all the merrymaking of the beginnings of the barbeque.

"My limbs are barely functioning right now." Emma tossed her head back and laughed freely.

"Yeah, I know what you mean. Mary Margaret and I went to the docks and did _more_ yoga after her class."

"Ah, I wondered where you ran off to. What's the problem, Swan, thought you couldn't handle seeing me in my element?" He flexed a bicep teasingly and smiled smugly when he saw her eyes widen ever so slightly as they followed the movement.

She recovered quickly, however. "Oh but, Jones, I think it's you who wouldn't have been able to handle knowing I was down there watching you." She smiled cheekily at him before flipping her hair over her shoulder as she skipped jauntily away from him.

Killian stared at her slack jawed and tried desperately to think of a retort but nothing came to him.

Just then Victor sauntered up to his side holding a bottle of beer. "You got it bad, probie."

"I'm starting to realize that."


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: You know, I had originally planned for this chapter to be a lot heavier and more background-y, but then I thought, _"Meh, skinny-dipping and making out sounds a lot more fun."_

And yup, standing by that initial assessment.

* * *

The cool air hit him like a brick wall as he stripped down to his boxers. Killian sucked in a breath as goosebumps rose on his heated flesh before turning around to gleeful cheers and at least one _'ow ow!'_ from one of his onlookers ( _Ruby, definitely Ruby_ ).

How in the _hell_ had it come to this?

One week ago Killian had been nursing a pint of beer on a barstool in Ireland, with no prospects for the future beyond vague plans to call the bartender over in a few minutes with a refill. Life had been—well, shitty, if he was being honest—but simple, that's for damn sure. No naked moonlit swims in strange American lakes watched by a hoard of drunk camp counselors.

He turned his head to his compatriot-in-humiliation only to see _way_ too much of Victor's privates on display already. The other man just grinned unabashedly at him and flexed his biceps to the continued wild catcalls of Ruby.

"C'mon, Jones! Let's see some swimmin'!" Killian made out Will's slurred shout amongst the raucous—they'd all had a bit to drink but the relatively young counselor seemed to have a hard time not showing his level of intoxication—and internally shrugged. Psyching himself up some by hopping in place for a few beats, Killian turned back around to face the edge of the dock on which they were standing and quickly shoved his last remaining article of clothing down his legs and shook his feet free.

The crowd's noise behind them grew to a fever pitch and Killian chanced another look over at Victor, keeping his eyes trained pointedly on his face.

Victor cocked an eyebrow. "Nice night for a swim, eh?"

Killian huffed out a laugh. "That it is, mate," he responded with a wry grin.

Thumping footsteps rang out behind them and Killian looked over his shoulder, careful to keep his torso faced squarely forward—no matter how friendly he felt he was getting with his coworkers, full frontal seemed a bit much for their first day of acquaintance. David sauntered over to them looking far drunker than Killian had realized he'd gotten.

"Okay, gents… Rules!" David clapped his hands and smiled brightly at them. "Since it _is_ dark out and we all _have_ been drinking a little—" _probably some more than others,_ Killian thought as he observed his swaying Assistant Director "—I'm just going to make you swim out to the buoy and back because that part's still lit from the dock lamps. Now, I see that you both are already dressed in the proper _'bet loser'_ uniform," he actually made air quotes and then gestured to Killian and Victor with an exaggerated sweep of his hands.

"So we're all set!" David clapped once more for good measure and then turned around to face the crowd who were in the middle of a very enthusiastic chorus of _"IN THE LAKE! IN THE LAKE!"_

"Shush, shush! Bunch of morons…" David muttered to himself loudly. "Not you, sweetie," he hastily called out to his wife upon hearing Mary Margaret's indignant scoff. Having finally calmed down their unsophisticated chants, he started the countdown.

"FIVE…"

Killian looked out over the dimly lit waters in front of him and spotted the reflective buoy bobbing a short distance away.

"…FOUR…"

He hopped again, shifting his weight back and forth on the balls of his feet.

"…THREE…"

When he looks back on this moment the next day Killian won't be able to explain to himself why he felt the sudden urge to steal another quick glance back over his shoulder. Perhaps he felt her eyes on him or perhaps it was just the loom of the chilly water in front of him making him apprehensive, but either way it produced the same result.

His eyes immediately found Emma's and for a split second the world around him vanished. She wasn't yelling out the countdown with the others, but just staring at him with a neutral, yet open, face. And far from being embarrassed at being caught most likely ( _hopefully_ ) checking out his backside, the only reaction he saw from her in that moment was the slight uplifting of the corners of her lips. Killian felt a sudden rush of hopefulness and warmth flood his body. His nerves died instantly.

"…TWO…"

Killian whipped his head back around and the moment ended as quickly as it began.

"…ONE!"

Killian and Victor dove into the lake simultaneously, the cheers of the crowd immediately swallowed up by the sounds of their splashes.

A surge of power coursed through Killian's veins as the water chilled him to the bone. He stayed under until his lungs were on fire, propelling himself all the while in the direction of the buoy. When he finally resurfaced the cheering was much fainter and he greedily gasped for air. He wasted only a moment in finding the buoy's position again before setting off madly toward it. Unlike their climbing race earlier that day, Killian didn't have the time to spare to look around and gauge Victor's position. He'd have to settle for pushing himself blindly and hope for the best.

It felt…strange, to say the least, to swim stark naked. Killian couldn't recall a time he'd ever skinny-dipped before. The chilly water made its presence known _everywhere_ but he tried to push away the strange sensation and focus on winning. And hey, no clothes meant minimal drag through the water.

Even though no one had explicitly referred to the swim as a "race," both Killian and Victor and probably everyone else thought of it as one. And some primal stirring in Killian's mind made him want to win badly. Emma's softly smiling face from a few seconds ago was imprinted on the inside of his eyelids and the macho man inside him had to win this to prove his strength and virility. _Yes_ , he recognized how lame and caveman-esque that was. _And no_ , that didn't stop from putting a little extra flair into his turn when he reached the buoy and began the return lap.

Now he did pay more attention to his surroundings and kept an eye out for Victor in case of collision. But before he had made it too many strokes away from the buoy he felt the waves signaling Victor's own turn behind him. Killian pushed his fatiguing muscles even harder and turned a renewed focus on the dock ahead.

"YEAH! GO, GO _GO_!"

The whistles and applauding grew louder with each of his forceful kicks through the water and it boosted his confidence even more. With each stroke of his arms he reached out for the wood of the dock until he finally slapped it with a satisfying thud.

It was another close race but this time there was no doubt about who the winner was. Killian heard Victor's own impact with the dock not two seconds after his own.

He really didn't know how the crowd had anymore cheers left in them, but somehow their volume increased. Catching his breath while gripping the edge of the dock, Killian couldn't help joining in on their roaring laughter and good spirits.

"Good game, probie," Victor panted beside him and extended a hand for Killian to shake. He was experiencing some serious déjà vu from the afternoon.

Killian couldn't actually formulate words just then, still on his adrenaline high. But he smiled widely and shook his friend's hand. It was a little awkward shaking hands while bobbing naked in the water, but they made it work.

Victor was the first to ascend from the lake, letting the water whoosh off of him as he rose up from the ladder. Once fully standing he gave a bow that somehow managed to be both cocky and deferential to Killian's win.

Following Victor quickly and reaching out with one hand for his clothes before he was fully upright, Killian thought he did a pretty good job preserving his modesty. He covered himself with the bundle while he pulled his boxers up again in record time.

This time it was David who began singing "We Are The Champions" at the top of his voice, with Will eagerly joining in not long after. They flanked Killian on either side, looped their arms with his, and began a staggering procession back up the dock to shore.

All lingering thoughts of his barstool at home are pushed from his mind as he realizes that these people—ridiculous as they may be at the moment—truly have welcomed and accepted him as a friend. The thought puts a silly grin on his face and he adds his own joyous voice to the horrendous singing surrounding him.

* * *

Okay, so Emma might have gotten a glimpse at Jones' manhood as he rushed up the ladder before he frantically covered himself up with his bundle of clothes (which was totally _not_ adorable…). She couldn't help it. Add that to the view of his toned backside as he was standing before the race and she pretty much had the whole picture.

And _sweet baby Jesus_ was it a picture.

She didn't know what had possessed her to so blatantly stare when everybody was counting down ( _but let's be honest, it was the tequila shots they'd all done beforehand_ ) but she really couldn't find it in her to regret it. And when he had turned around for that one second that seemed to stretch into infinity, locking eyes with her and looking so _goddamn_ cute… Well, she felt the icy walls around her heart melt just a tad. That probably would have scared her more if she wasn't feeling the sweet buzz of the alcohol.

As it was, some fantasies were already beginning to form in her cloudy mind. Fantasies which most certainly could not be called 'cute.'

That was probably why she'd kissed him.

It wasn't like Emma had planned it—at least not like that. Because she couldn't deny anymore that she wanted him.

After Victor and Killian had both redressed in their now wet clothes, the whole group set off back towards the cabins, singing all the way. Their drunken shouts must have woken Robin and Regina up—and subsequently annoyed the latter enough to make the former go out and shut them up.

"Okay, fellas, time for bed," Robin called to them as he walked out of the Director's cabin in his pajamas. He must have seen the swerve in David's walk because he swiftly threw the other man's arm over his shoulder and began steering him towards his own cabin, Mary Margaret in tow.

"Aw, you're no fun anymore, Rob! You're so _old_!" David leaned his head on Robin's shoulder as he continued babbling drunkenly.

"We're the same age, you bastard." Robin turned his head then and shouted over his shoulder. "The rest of you gits, too. Off to bed!"

"Psh, fine." Will began to stumble back towards the lake before Lance steadied him with two firm hands on his shoulders and steered him towards their cabin.

Variations of slurred farewells and goodnights were called out by everyone until Emma realized that just she and Killian hadn't moved from their spot on the path.

"Erm, I believe that Ruby and my swimming companion have sought other accommodation for the moment," Killian began awkwardly.

Emma stared at him blankly. "Huh?"

He chuckled. "Victor and Ruby…um, well I don't think you'll be seeing your cabinmate for at least a little while."

"Oh. Yeah. They tend to sneak off…"

"Well, since there is no one to escort you to your door, would you allow me the honor?"

She felt her eyes widen and a blush forming that had nothing to do with tequila. The only way she could think to describe him was, once again, _adorable._

"You want to…walk me to my cabin?"

"Aye, if that's okay." He reached up to rub the back of his neck and that really sealed the deal for Emma. The stretching muscles on display under his still wet shirt alone were enough to make her head spin. Not finding any words, she nodded her agreement. A happy grin lit up his face and his dark wet eyelashes made his eyes look that much bluer to her.

Her cabin was only like 50 feet away; it shouldn't have been such a big deal. But somehow it was and Emma found herself wondering if he was one of those guys that pulled out his date's chair for her.

Though not nearly as drunk as David or Will had been, Emma was still tipsy and so it wasn't really a surprise when she stumbled some as they began the short walk. It _was_ a surprise when Killian reached out and clasped his hand with hers, interlocking their fingers.

They didn't speak and honestly Emma still hadn't found any words that could be strung together in a semi-intelligent sentence. And she had no idea what was going through his head right now.

After what seemed like hours—though in fact was probably more like seconds—they arrived at the steps leading to her door. Killian made no move to release her hand and she found that she didn't want him to. As they stood there turned slightly toward each other, Emma stared at their intertwined fingers and it was like a switch went off in her brain. Suddenly that small but intimate contact just wasn't enough for her.

She surged forward and crashed her lips against his. He gasped in surprise but almost immediately responded and kissed her back just as desperately. Emma reluctantly dropped his hand in favor of running hers up both his arms and shoulders to caress the nape of his neck. The hair on the back of his head was still wet with lake water and she roughly carded her fingers through the thick strands, causing him to growl deep in his throat. Killian grabbed her hips and pressed her impossibly closer to him. One of his large hands found the curve of her ass and squeezed while the other ran lightly up and down her spine.

Emma moaned into the kiss and ran her tongue along his lips until he opened them for her. Their tongues finally met and— _damn,_ the boy could kiss. Her mind was blissfully blank of anything but the amazing feeling of her body pressed against his from lips to knees.

They both pulled away finally and gasped for oxygen. Hands now settled on her lower back, Killian tilted his forehead down until it was resting against hers. Their breaths came out in mingled puffs of air visible in the cool night air.

"Holy shit," she huffed out when she could finally breathe properly again.

He chucked and reached up to rub small circles on her check with the pad of his thumb and she closed her eyes again at the contact. When he finally did speak, it was just one syllable but she could hear the awe plainly. "Aye."

Emma nuzzled her nose against his for a second before kissing him chastely again and pulling fully away. She shivered once she was out of the heat of his embrace but quickly turned on her heels and skipped up the steps to her door. Pausing with her hand on the knob, she turned around to see that he hadn't moved from his spot and was still gazing up at her. She couldn't stop the giggle from escaping her mouth.

"Goodnight, Killian."

He cleared his throat and blinked. "G'night, Emma."

Emma closed the door softly. Inside, she kicked off her sandals and promptly fell into her bunk without undressing any further, deep sleep following soon after.


	6. Chapter 6

Emma didn't get hangovers. That was definitely not what was going on. Sounds and light just… hurt. That's all.

She dug out her camp polo from the bottom of her duffel and gingerly pulled it over her head. Just as she was searching for her sandals— _why are they over by the door?!_ —and thinking that she should probably swing by the infirmary for some ibuprofen before breakfast, her memories from last night hit her all at once.

Oh god. Killian. Killian naked. The _kiss._

She sat back down on her bunk heavily and rubbed her pounding forehead. "Holy fuck."

"Tell me about it," came Ruby's gruff reply as she entered the cabin, hair still wet from her shower. Emma winced and covered her head with her pillow when the door slammed behind her. "You look like shit."

Emma groaned from under the pillow. "Feel like it, too."

Ruby clucked her tongue and started combing out her hair in front of the mirror. Emma's first instinct was to bottle these emotions up and pretend like she hadn't kissed him—at least, not tell anyone else about it. But she was so confused about it all and she really needed a sounding board to help get her head on straight, especially with this 'not-hangover' making complex thoughts a little harder to come by this morning.

"So I might have done something weird last night," she said hesitantly, still muffled by the pillow. The sounds of Ruby's morning routine suddenly stopped.

"Define weird." Emma could just imagine Ruby raising one perfectly plucked eyebrow at her.

"Kissed-the-new-guy weird?" Somehow it came out as a question in Emma's tone. Before she knew what was happening the pillow had been flung off her face and light assaulted her poor corneas mercilessly.

Ruby's wolfish grin was just inches away from her face when Emma finally reopened her eyes. "Spill."

Emma sat up wearily and leaned against the headboard. "I dunno, it just kind of… happened." She shrugged and looked over to see Ruby's unamused expression.

"Kissing someone doesn't just _happen_ , Emma."

Emma groaned again and let her head fall back to the wall behind her bunk. "It was after everyone left for the night and he walked me to my door." She chanced another peek at Ruby and saw her grin returning. "I was drunk! And Killian probably was too. We got to the cabin and—I don't know," she repeated and shrugged again.

"How was it?" The feral smirk had made a full recovery and Ruby was in definite girl-talk mode now.

"It was…" Emma thought about it for a second, replaying the kiss over in her mind. The details of the alcohol-infused memories came back to her one-by-one and she remembered the way his hand had grabbed her ass possessively and the wrecked look on his face when she pulled away—

"Okay, I think I have my answer!" Emma snapped her eyes back to her friend and realized she'd gotten carried away thinking about the kiss. Ruby gave her a knowing smirk and something akin to triumph gleamed in her eyes. "The real question is…" She leaned forward and snatched the pillow away from Emma's face where she'd just begun hitting herself with it. "…What are you going to do about it now?"

"No clue." Emma waved her hand towards Ruby. "You know, hence the telling you about it part."

Ruby sat back and considered her friend. "Well, the way I see it you have three options. Number one, you pretend you don't remember the kiss—and I don't think you're that good of an actress." She winked at Emma. "Number two, you act like the kiss didn't mean anything and was just a drunken mistake—which would also probably be hard to pull off judging by that dreamy look on your face just now. Or number three, you act like an adult, admit that you like him, and go talk to him."

"Gee, I wonder which option you'd like me to take," Emma said in a sarcastic monotone.

Ruby smiled widely at her and patted her on the knee condescendingly. "Only looking out for ya!"

Emma rolled her eyes and immediately regretted it when a wave of nausea hit her. "Somehow I doubt that."

* * *

"Anyone who doesn't know their cabin assignment yet needs to go over to Robin—" David took the megaphone away from his mouth to shout at Robin from across the parking lot where the other man sat at a folding table, "Hey, Rob! Wave!" Robin looked up from his clipboard and did as he was told, smiling cheerfully at the parents and campers milling about.

Emma side eyed her brother blearily, noting the red-rimmed and slightly crazed eyes scanning the new arrivals in front of them. She wasn't the only one denying a hangover this morning. "Relax, Davey. Everything's going fine. And you really need to lose the megaphone, I think even Granny can hear you just fine from the kitchen." She pulled her baseball cap further down her forehead in a vain attempt to block out more sunlight.

David seemed to take no notice of her words and continued to frantically search the parking lot, even going so far as to stand on his tiptoes to see farther. He squinted down at his wristwatch and muttered to himself indistinctly. Emma could just make out the words 'schedule' and 'goddamnit.'

Huffing out a silent laugh at his ridiculousness, Emma took another bite of the carrot she had been eating. Just then Henry ran up to them and skidded to a halt in front of Emma.

"Are you ready? It's almost time! When are we going?" He was practically bouncing with excitement and Emma couldn't help but feel a little of it rub off on her. She smiled at him and ruffled his hair.

"Pretty soon, kid. You got our costumes all ready?"

"Yeah, they're in my backpack!" Henry patted the large bag on his shoulders. "This is gonna be so awesome. I love this year's theme! Fairytales are so…" He seemed to search for a suitable adjective but ended up settling with his first assessment, "…awesome!"

"At least someone likes it…" The words were too low for Henry to catch but Emma heard them. She stifled a grin and glanced over at David to see him grimacing at his clipboard where all the fairytale-themed cabin names were listed. The two of them had already expressed their displeasure at Regina's choice in camp theme for this summer but they were overruled by their boss. And because Mary Margaret had been in love with the idea from the start, David was relegated to quiet grumbling with Emma about how he was supposed to play the "goody two shoes" and "flouncy" ( _whatever that meant_ ) Prince Charming character for a whole summer.

"Who's your counselor this year, Henry?" Emma asked, hoping to switch the topic.

"Jefferson. Grace told me that his cabin is 'Alice in Wonderland' and that we're all going to pick out characters from the story to pretend to be!"

She internally cringed and hoped that his cabin didn't get too into the roleplaying. She did _not_ need any more little kids running around screaming for heads to be chopped off. "Well that sounds, uh, fun. Hey, why don't we find Ruby and start heading over to where the bus will pick us up."

"Sure thing!" And with that he bounded off, presumably in the direction of Ruby. Emma and David flinched when Henry tripped over a groove in the pavement, probably off-balance from the giant backpack swinging behind him, but he quickly righted himself and set off again at the same breakneck speed.

"Which fairytale did you end up deciding on for the bus meetup?" David asked her.

"Little Red Riding Hood." David scoffed. "Yeah, I know. But Ruby was all about it and there was no convincing her otherwise. We practiced an hour ago and she's actually a pretty good wolf."

He paused in his scribbling on the clipboard. "She's playing the wolf?"

"Yup. Says she wants it to be our reinterpretation. She was getting all 'theatre'-y about it." Emma rolled her eyes. Ruby had just finished her first year as a drama teacher at a middle school outside of Boston and was known for her original, and very enthusiastic, retellings of any number of classic stories. "Henry said he was cool with playing Little Red Riding Hood as long as he could have a sword, too."

"Wait, if Ruby's playing the wolf and Henry's Little Red…what does that make you?"

She raised an eyebrow at him and set her mouth in a thin line. "Guess."

* * *

"' _It'll be fun,'_ she said. ' _The kids will be so excited to see you,'_ she said." Victor crossed his arms and hunched lower in his seat, his sarcastic grumblings barely audible over the shrill screaming echoing from the back of the bus.

Killian quietly agreed with his colleague. When Regina had described their task of driving to Portland in the camp's bus to pick up a batch of kids, she had left out the part about them all yelling their little heads off at each other and giving the chaperones headaches.

Finally giving up on pretending the little devils didn't exist, Victor suddenly stood up and braced himself in the aisle. "Yoohoo! Attention up here, _you little rat bastards…"_ That last part was mumbled under his breath with a grimace that lasted just a second before his too-cheerful grin reappeared.

"How about a song, guys?" His idea was met with loud cheers and several of the kids started to call out their song suggestions at once. "But, I swear to god, the first one of you that says 'The Wheels on the Bus' gets thrown _out_ of the bus!"

Killian didn't recognize a good portion of the song titles they put forward but Victor didn't seem to be interested in any of them anyway until a boy with jet black hair flopping into his eyes yelled one out.

"'Another Brick in the Wall!'"

"Xavier, I like it, man! C'mere, high five!" Victor slapped the little Pink Floyd fan's hand and turned around to the front of the bus where the driver was scowling out at the road. "Hey Leroy, do we still have Robin's CDs up there?"

Leroy reached up with one hand to the visor and fumbled around with some discs in the sleeves before finally finding the correct one. He shoved it into the stereo and turned the volume up full blast. The opening lines of _'we don't need no education'_ blared out from the speakers and the campers went berserk and began singing along. When it came to the part where they yelled, _'Hey, teacher! Leave those kids alone!'_ they all pointed at Victor and Killian who both pretended to be wounded by the words and clutched at their hearts dramatically. Everybody in the bus got into the song—even Leroy, who could be heard muttering along to the lyrics with just the barest hint of sarcasm—until they all flopped back into their seats once the final chords ended.

Still breathing heavily from the force of their singalong, Killian vaguely realized that the bus was slowing to a halt. He looked out the window but they were still surrounded by wall-to-wall trees with the entrance to the camp nowhere in sight.

"What's the deal, Leroy?" Victor called from his seat next to Killian, perhaps just a tad too loudly. Most of the kids in the front sections of the bus stopped their conversations to turn their attention to the road.

"Looks like we've got some hitchhikers," Leroy said stiffly.

"Well open up the door, good man, and let's show them some good ole Camp Storybrooke hospitality!" Killian narrowed his eyes at his friend before craning his neck around Leroy to see the newcomers. Victor was now far too enthusiastic about the prospect of hitchhikers in the middle of nowhere for this to be completely innocent.

A hunched over figure draped in the most stereotypical 'grandmother shawl' he'd ever seen was being led to the bus by a very familiar lad who now proudly wore a deep red cape around his neck and, for some unfathomable reason, was holding a wooden sword in one hand.

"Henry?" Victor elbowed him in the gut none-too-lightly.

"Shush, man."

Rubbing his side, Killian continued to watch the progress of Henry and the old woman as they made their way to the door and up the stairs of the bus. He still couldn't see the woman's face covered as it was by the shawl, but he swore he recognized that bright blonde hair—definitely _not_ the hair of an old grandma. "What in the hell—"

Another subtle shove stopped him from finishing that sentence. "Good sir! What can we do for you and your traveling companion?" Victor's voice rang out in the silent bus as everybody watched the scene in front of them. Several of the kids snickered as they recognized their friend, but continued watching expectantly.

However, it was Emma—for she had now thrown back the shawl and revealed her face—who answered Victor's obviously scripted question. "We are fleeing! The great wolf is hunting us and we have just escaped with our lives! Please, you must help us!" She flung herself at Victor's outstretched arms with an exaggerated hobble and hid her face in his shoulder. Both of them began trembling with the strain of suppressed laughter.

Victor had tears in his eyes when he finally managed to choke out his next query before covering his mouth with his fist. "And where is this great wolf now?"

"Right here, my dears!" Several of the children in the bus screeched in fright at the sound of the sneering voice and Killian couldn't blame them. Ruby glided up the stairs and grinned at the passengers hungrily. She was dressed in a faux fur cape dyed bright red to match the highlights in her hair. There was a trickle of something that looked a lot like blood coming from the corner of her mouth and she slowly touched her tongue to it, careful not to mess up her crimson lipstick. She growled and patted Henry on the shoulder. "Mmm, thank you, Red, for leading me to these delicious looking morsels all packaged up nice and neat for me already!"

Henry stepped back from her and drew his wooden sword, leveling it at Ruby's throat. "Not so fast!"

Ruby threw her head back and laughed deeply. "You think you can defeat _me_?"

Henry jutted his chin out defiantly and looked the wolf square in the eyes. "I know I can. Because good always defeats evil!" He swung his sword out dramatically and made as if to chop Ruby's head off, stopping at the last moment with the wooden blade an inch away from her neck. Ruby made a theatrical _'argh'_ noise and dropped dead to the floor.

Applause erupted from the campers and Henry bowed proudly. Killian saw Leroy roll his eyes in the rear view mirror.

Emma regained her composure from where she and Victor had been ducked behind a seat laughing. She stood up and raised her voice to be heard above the din. "You've saved us all! Driver, make haste to camp and we shall feast in his honor!"

Leroy put the bus into gear again and continued the drive to camp, grumbling all the way about how soon he could retire and get away from these crazy people.

* * *

"You should have seen your face!" Victor mirthfully pointed at a scowling Killian seated across from him at the lunch table. He sighed wistfully. "I wish I could have filmed that."

"Ooh, maybe next time we can have someone set up to film the whole thing!" Ruby proposed excitedly from her place next to Victor.

Emma pointed a broccoli-laden fork at her. "If you film it, I am _not_ doing it again."

"Oh come on, it was fun! Anyway, it probably wouldn't be nearly as entertaining to film the next session's because Killian will be out of his hazing phase by then and he'll know about it beforehand." At Killian's affronted look, Ruby teased, "Oh calm down, you're fine. Just a little harmless fun to start the session off and introduce the theme."

"And isn't it such a lovely theme?" Mary Margaret set her tray down and smiled softly at them. Now that the fairytale theme had been formally announced—first teased by the skit on the bus for the kids that came that way, and then through Regina's announcement before lunch for everybody else—she had changed her nametag to her fairytale persona of Snow White.

Everyone at the table launched into their own side conversations as the mess hall got more and more crowded. Killian leaned slightly over to Emma so they wouldn't be overheard.

"Quite the performance today, Swan."

Emma's eyes widened and she worked to swallow the bite she was chewing. She shot a tight-lipped smile at him briefly and nodded.

"Thanks."

She still hadn't had a chance to talk to him privately about the previous night—though truthfully she'd only halfheartedly searched for him after breakfast and was more than a little relieved when Regina told her that she'd sent him to Portland. Sensing the awkwardness of the present situation, Emma wracked her brain for something else to say but Killian beat her to it.

"You don't have to do that, you know." He glanced at her as he took a swig from his child-sized carton of chocolate milk.

"Do what?" Emma said slowly.

"Find something to say to fill the silence. I won't bite—"

"Unless I want you to, right?" The challenge in her eyes was unmistakable.

He chucked self-deprecatingly and looked down. "I guess my cheesiness has been discovered. But seriously, I don't expect anything from you that you aren't willing to give."

Emma stared blankly at his earnest expression. "That I'm not willing to give," she repeated slowly.

"Aye. I realize that we've just met a couple days ago—although it seems like much longer. And truthfully, I'm feeling somewhat overwhelmed by the fast pace of the camp, so I'd really like it if we could be friends. For now, at least." Just to lighten the mood, she suspected, he wiggled his eyebrows hilariously.

He wanted to be friends with her after the, quite frankly, bipolar range of standoffishness to full-on make out sesh she displayed yesterday. Maybe he was just as crazy as she was. And he seemed to take the words right out of her mouth when he described the way camp has a tendency of making you feel like there's been several weeks crammed into the span of a couple days. For this reason alone fledgling romantic relationships almost always sizzled out quickly here, and Emma found herself not wanting that to happen with Killian. And anyways, she didn't even _want_ a 'relationship' right now, no thank you.

Finally realizing that she'd just been staring at him stonily while her inner monologue ran its course, she quickly smiled—and this time genuinely—and agreed. "I'd like that."

"Great!" He smiled warmly at her and went back to his meal. "So Emma, tell me more about growing up with David. I'm sure you have plenty of embarrassing stories about our illustrious Assistant Director." He winked at her conspiratorially and she laughed.

And just like that, a friendship was forged. Perhaps charged with a healthy dash of sexual tension, but the overt awkwardness between them soon faded away until it was, not quite forgotten—because Emma knew damn well that she wouldn't be forgetting the passion of that kiss anytime soon—but at least not uncomfortable.

They both missed the subtle looks exchanged between their colleagues, as well as the $20 bill Victor passed to Ruby under the table.

* * *

A/N: I know that "themes" for summer camps probably aren't the norm, but we had them at the camp I worked at (could you tell that I am a recovering counselor myself? Heavy sarcasm there.) and I thought it fit well with the whole fairytale/magic/double lives thing of OUAT. So take it with a grain of salt.

I'm excited to get the next chapter out because it'll have the scene that started this whole thing in my head! And because apparently this is my life now.


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: I took a short break from the internet there last month and my motivation suffered... So I figured producing nothing was better than producing shit. But hey, big chapter now!

* * *

The first days of camp flew by until Killian couldn't distinguish one from the next. He and Victor tag-teamed their responsibilities, switching off their breakfast monitoring duties and manning the rock wall during free time periods. He found that they got along well and had similar working habits—always good characteristics in a partnership.

Slowly but surely he got into the swing of the camp lifestyle and ways of doing things. Some things still tripped him up randomly though. Like when all the kids started screaming in unison and banging their silverware on the tables in the mess hall during meals.

"What in the bloody hell is going on?" he had asked no one in particular when it happened the first time.

"It's a stupid game they play," Philip answered bemusedly. "They all secretly watch a boy and a girl they think like each other and then do this—" he gestured to the general raucous "—when they finally look at each other."

"Basically preteen shipping." Ruby grinned at him from across the table before joining in on the yelling.

"And who, may I ask, are they 'shipping'today?" Killian asked.

"Looks like Caroline and…" she craned her neck and raised herself off the bench to see over to the far wall where the voices were loudest. She laughed humorlessly. "Henry."

Philip scoffed. "Idiot kids don't know what they're talking about."

"Everybody knows Henry has a thing for Grace." Ruby answered his unspoken question and smiled her trademark feral grin.

Truthfully he hadn't noticed anything of the sort, but then again he hadn't really been paying much attention to the love lives of the campers. He had enough of his own problems in that department. He and Emma were self-labeled friends now, but that didn't seem to actually mean much beyond polite surface interactions during the occasional cohabitation of the same room. Emma usually found some excuse to flee soon enough and Killian was beginning to bemoan his honorable intentions.

Peering through a break in the crowd, Killian spotted Henry lightly punching a couple of his mates on the shoulders and rolling his eyes. Definitely not the reaction of a boy actually caught in his crush.

Philip sighed wistfully. "That's how Aurora and I started dating."

"Yeah, that was fucking annoying." Ruby scoffed and took a giant bite of her burger.

"Whoa, there! Just because we're not all so—how can I put this delicately? Forthright—in our affections as you and Vic—"

"Ha! Talk about forthright, now all you and Aurora do is fuck each other with your eyes," Ruby said around mouthfuls of hamburger, making her words somehow even more vulgar. She swallowed and turned to smile broadly at Killian, little bits of hamburger bun falling out of her mouth. "How about you Killian? What's your style for getting the girl?"

Killian's eyes widened fractionally but he recovered straight away. "Oh, the usual, I suppose. Roguish good looks. The accent doesn't hurt either, I've found." He wiggled his eyebrows.

Ruby just rolled her eyes, apparently unaffected by his charms. Her smile was just a little too condescending, a little too knowing, for his likes. "Sure, Romeo. But have you got your sights set on anyone lately?" _Oh god_ , she knew.

Phil looked up from tray interestedly. "Yeah, Killian. Everybody loves a good summer romance now and again."

"Jeeze, you lot are as bad as the kids over there!" Killian knew he was getting defensive but telling the truth was out of the question.

"What's this I hear about romance?" Victor clapped him on the back as he sat down in the seat next to him. Killian buried his face in his hands in muted anguish.

"Killian here was just telling us about his crush," Ruby supplied helpfully.

"Oh, leave my probie alone!"

"Thank you, mate—"

"Besides, we all know it's Emma."

"Oi! Some friend you are…" Killian grumbled as he slouched a little more in his seat.

"Interesting development…" Philip eyed him curiously.

"Is not. Now shut up, all of you," he huffed.

It made no difference though, Ruby had already started a low chorus of "Killian and Emma sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G! First comes love, then comes marriage…"

He stormed off from the table and their howls of laughter, which were thankfully quickly overpowered by the continued roar of the lunchtime rush.

* * *

"Hey, Swan, mind if I join you today?"

Emma jumped; she hadn't noticed Killian casually leaning against the wall beside her. To calm her racing heartbeat, she briefly rested her forehead on the planks of the boat shack and pleaded for patience.

"Why do you have to sneak up on me like that?"

He grinned and began stretching, reaching down to touch his feet. "Gotta keep you on your toes, love."

Emma narrowed her eyes at him. "Is that supposed to be funny?"

"Well I thought it was quite clever."

She crossed her arms and stared at him as he stretched. "I never said yes, you know."

"Ah, but you were about to!" He looked up at her through his eyelashes and winked.

She considered him for a moment. Usually Emma preferred to run alone and use the time to clear her head. She'd blocked out the hour after lunch in her schedule just for that purpose—well, that and because the staff had all agreed that kids going into the water on a full stomach just ended badly for everyone within vomit range.

Emma knew that Killian had this time free also (the ban on after-lunch activities was extended to all exercise-related stations), and she had, until this point, managed to evade his leading questions and casual reminders that he wasn't busy after lunch. Even with their slowly burgeoning friendship, she still felt the need to distance herself somewhat from Killian. Spending too much time together gives the wrong idea to people—both those inside the relationship and outside it. But, Emma though wryly, she could actually use his help today.

She resumed her warmup and stretched out her shoulders. "Fine. But you're gonna have to work, too. I left a few kayaks on the other dock across the lake this morning and we have to bring them back."

Killian actually looked surprised that she'd agreed so readily before quickly replacing his cocky grin. "See, you need me!"

"Keep telling yourself that, buddy." Emma reached her arms down until her hands were flat on the ground, keeping her legs straight. And okay, she _may_ have angled it so her ass was on full display for him. But hey, sometimes she likes to see him squirm.

And squirm he did. She heard him cough and suddenly the glass pane of the window on the boat shack was very interesting to him. He spent a full minute holding his left elbow out in front of him to stretch the shoulder, while he completely forgot the other side.

"So." She stood up fully and began swinging her arms to loosen them up some more. "Since we're only going halfway, we can take the longer path to the other dock. I've never actually bothered to figure out how long that is, but I think it's somewhere around 3 miles. Then we'll tie the kayaks together in two groups and tow them back over here. That sound okay to you?"

He nodded. "Sure thing, love."

"Good. Let's get going then, shall we?" Emma pointed to the trailhead that was just beyond the far wall of the boat shack.

They began jogging at an easy pace to warm up and soon she felt that soothing quietness that comes from sustained exertion seep into her bones. She hadn't even noticed that she'd been frowning slightly until her face relaxed, unfurrowing her brows along with it. Killian allowed her to set the pace and she found herself steadily going faster until they were running at her normal speed. The light filtered in through the trees lining the path and she caught glimpses of sunbeams rippling on the surface of the lake. She'd been using this trail for years and it was by far her favorite in the world. Hardly anyone even knew about it, mostly just the other staffers and a few adventurous campers, and of those, none went on it regularly except her.

Just as they reached the halfway point from the other dock—a scraggly willow that's bent almost all the way into the water—she chanced a look over at her running buddy. He was breathing heavily, but not hard enough to signify discomfort, and gazing at the earthen ground ahead of them. His eyes were focused and there was a determined set to his jaw that had Emma wondering what he was thinking about. She looked at Killian for barely a second before she snapped her eyes back on the path, but somehow he noticed. He laughed breathlessly, but he didn't call her out on it or do anything else, and she unconsciously increased the speed of her footfalls.

Emma finally realized they were practically sprinting when they fly by the mouth of a stream that means they're almost to the dock. She could just make out the faded orange paint of the kayaks bobbing next to the dark wood. Not wanting to be completely out of breath once they get there (and realizing that there's actually no reason to push herself now, they still have to tow the boats back, after all), she slowed her pace until they were both jogging only a smidge faster than when they started out. They came to a rest in front of the shabby dock and Killian immediately bent over and rested his hands on the tops of his thighs, panting heavily. He rolled forward in what she hopes is a controlled fall, and settled loosely cross-legged with his arms propping him up from behind. It has to be at least a full five minutes before he'd calmed down enough to speak, and when he did his voice was a husky growl that would cloud her vision with lust if she wasn't still winded herself. Even so, she stills her harried pacing and turns to stare at him.

"How is it that I always find myself in a race at this camp?" Killian closed his eyes and turned his face to the sky, basking in the warm sunlight. He inhaled through his nose for the first time since they started running and she forces herself to do the same. "At least this time I have a much prettier opponent."

She laughs at that and the corners of his lips twitch in response as he cracks an eyelid open to watch her. "What, Vic isn't your type? He'll be crushed."

When he doesn't reply any further she nudges him with the nose of her running shoe. "Get up, lazy bum. Come on, there's a potable water tap back in the trees we can drink from."

Sighing melodramatically, he flopped over onto all fours and he slowly brings himself to a standing position. "Lead the way, my lady."

It's cooler under the cover of the trees and she shivers as the sweat on her skin abruptly turns icy. Thankfully that also means the water is cold and she greedily slurped from the faucet. Once she'd had her fill she steps back to let Killian drink. The water droplets clung to his beard and Emma had to physically stop herself from reaching up to wipe them away when he stood up and grinned stupidly at her. She settles for pointing and laughing.

"Bad form to make fun of a humble man, Swan," he said, though his smile only grew wider at her giggles. "I believe you said something about some kayaks that needed attending to?"

It was her turn to sigh now, and she made a face as she reluctantly stepped back into the direct sunlight.

"'Kay, you can take three and I'll take three. Make sure to tie them with secure knots." She began untying several of the kayaks that she'll be taking and left him to do the same.

"And you were going to bring all these back yourself?"

Her brows furrow as she registers his incredulous tone but she doesn't stop working at the knot with her fingers. "Mhmm. What, think I couldn't do it?"

"No, it's not that… Just impressive, is all. I'd imagine these create quite the drag behind them." Emma looks over to see him bent over the edge of the dock, working on untying one of the ropes. She shrugs.

"I'm used to it." Emma goes back to her own work but soon feels the inexplicable need to share more with him and she resumes talking. "I don't get outside all that much during the year so I like to get as much exercise as I can in during the summers."

"And what is it that you do normally? No offense, but I can't really see you as a teacher like most of the other counselors."

She shakes her head and scoffs. "Ha. Yeah, no. I'm a recruiter for a high school study abroad program. I decided long ago that while I liked working with children, teaching was not for me. But I like what I do. I travel a lot—sometimes overseas, but mostly within the states."

Killian peered over at her. "Sounds kind of lonely."

She shrugged again. "It can be. But I have a partner on trips usually, and when I go to a city that one of my friends from camp lives in I can stay with them and hang out. I get to talk to kids about what they want to do with their futures and help them make plans to see the world. It's nice."

He looked over at her like he wanted to say something but went back to work on his knot instead.

"Got it!" She tied the last of the kayaks together and quickly dropped herself down into one to begin the paddle back to camp. "Last one there has to wash the lifejackets!"

"Not fair, Swan!"

She cackled gleefully all the way back to the other side of the lake, and then again as Killian was dunking the smelly lifejackets into buckets of soapy water with a scowl on his face.

* * *

David paused in his rummaging through his fanny pack and looked over at her with a frown. "Sure you'll be okay?"

Emma sighed exasperatedly. "Yes! Everything'll be fine. I'll hold down the fort, don't worry."

"But you said you're not feeling well…"

"I said I was feeling a little sluggish and I'd just sit this one out. We go on camping trips every week, it's not like I'm missing much. And you don't need _every_ counselor along to keep everybody in line."

David still looked skeptical but nonetheless he continued searching his bag until he found the tube of cortisone that he'd been looking for. "I guess…"

"Look," she said, holding his shoulders with both of her hands. "I'm fine. Granny and Leroy will be here too, so there's no reason for you to worry about me. Go, have fun. Be the boy scout you always wished you could be."

He looked a little offended by that, but reluctantly agreed. "Okay, but keep your radio on you at all times." Emma rolled her eyes but nodded anyway. "We'll be back around noon tomorrow because we have to hike back—"

"Dude, I've done this trip a million times too, ya know. If you say one more thing about it I'm gonna tell everyone about that time at Ruth's brother's house when you—" David clapped his hand over her mouth and looked around furtively for anyone within earshot. He gave a satisfying yelp and jumped back when she licked his hand.

"We're going, we're going!" He wiped his hand on his jeans and then turned to the large group assembled behind them with their backpacks. "Okay everybody, let's get going! Robin's the last one out, everybody get a move on!"

And with that they slowly filed away in a semi-organized blob into the woods. Chuckling to herself, Emma turned away from the clearing and walked back to her cabin. Truthfully she felt like crap. But she wasn't going to tell David that much and risk him getting all worked up about nothing. Emma knew how to take care of herself when she was sick and she did damn fine on her own.

Once she reached the cabin she immediately stripped herself of her clothes and settled beneath the covers of her bunk. Ever since she was little she could always stop herself from actually getting sick if she just allowed her body to sleep through it. She supposed it was a natural defense built up from years of having no one there to nurse her back to health when she fell ill. Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth or potentially jinx it, Emma tried not to question it too much.

She really was quite tired and so she snuggled herself deep into her blanket and soon drifted into a hazy unconsciousness.

When she woke it was dark and the shadows from the moonlight seeping in through the open windows looked threatening. Emma tried to sit up and find a drink of water but stopped when the blanket slipped down her torso and she shivered violently. Covering herself up again, she tried to weigh her options.

Everything hurt. Her throat felt like it had a softball in it every time she tried to swallow and her limbs felt useless. There was an incessant ringing in her ears that was quickly transforming into a killer headache. Emma didn't try, but she knew that she wouldn't have the energy to stand, much less walk anywhere. She felt like there was some key piece of information that was just out of her grasp but try as she did she couldn't figure out what it was that she was missing.

Ultimately she decided the only thing to do was to go back to sleep and hope that whatever this was would work itself out of her system. She pulled the too-thin flannel blanket up to her ears and willed her body to relax.

When she next opened her eyes she hadn't even realized that she'd been sleeping before. This time she was _sure_ that something had woken her. Emma stared up at the wood ceiling above her and tried to get her vision to focus.

Just then a resounding crash echoed out through the room and she screwed her eyes shut at the force of the sound. The next thing she knew a warm hand was touching her forehead and her eyes flew open at the contact.

"What the hell?" Or at least that's what she tried to say—her voice was terribly raspy and it actually came out as more of a high-pitched wheeze.

Killian's hazy face frowned down at her. "Lass, you're burning up. You've got a fever."

She squinted her eyes at him and shook her head slightly. "'M fine."

His frown deepened and through her headache she saw the glint in his eyes shift from worried to pissed off. "No. You're not. You don't have any water in here—I checked. And you had the windows wide open so the wind was coming straight in. It's cold in here and you're sick."

He sighed and stood up from his kneeling position at her bedside. Time seemed to be working strangely for Emma because it seemed like he was gone for no time at all before he reappeared in her line of sight holding a first aid kit.

"I'm going to take your temperature now, love. Open your mouth a bit." He stuck the thermometer in through her parted chapped lips and she tried not to gag at the feeling. When it beeped ( _shrilly_ , might she add) he took it out and pulled a face when he read the numbers on the screen. "103. Emma, you're really hot."

Abstractly, she realized that his lack of implied innuendo in that statement meant that he was actually serious and she should probably be concerned.

Killian sighed and looked behind his shoulder at something she couldn't see. "Look, I've already closed the windows but it's not getting any warmer in here for a while." Emma didn't quite know what he was getting to, she already knew the weather was abnormal. She was under a goddamn blanket in the middle of June, for Christ's sake.

"I'm going to take you back to my cabin. It's warm there."

Emma's eyes widened. "I'm fine, Killian! I swear, I j-just need to sleep this off… I've had way higher temperatures before." she croaked and pulled the blanket a little tighter around herself.

Killian's frown deepened until his whole face was scrunched together. It probably would have made Emma laugh if the thought alone of laughter didn't make her exhausted.

He stared at her squinting eyes for a few seconds. "You know that doesn't actually make me feel any better, right?"

Killian didn't give her a chance to respond or protest before he tucked the edges of the blankets underneath her more securely and slid his arms beneath her back and her knees. He lifted her up in one smooth motion and she squeaked in surprise.

"What are you doing?" She tried to sound harsh but it ended up sounding more breathless than anything.

"I told you, taking you to my cabin. I figured you were too weak to walk on your own so I'm going to carry you." He stepped through the door and kicked it shut with his heel before carefully walking down the stairs to the path below. Emma shivered when a breeze whistled past and she unconsciously tucked her face into the crook of Killian's neck.

"It's not actually that cold out. It's pretty normal for this time of night," he mused, not deterred when he didn't get a response. "I guess Granny and Leroy went into town for supplies and David couldn't get through on the phone lines. He sent me back to check on you when you weren't answering your radio. He would have come himself but Mary Margaret convinced him that he was needed at the campout."

"He worries too much," she grumbled from his shirt collar.

"Aye, I suppose he probably does," Killian said softly. "But when you care about someone, you do whatever it takes…"

Emma was drifting in and out of consciousness by the time they reached the entrance to his cabin. When he kicked the door open she started and almost punched him in the gut by accident. Luckily her punches didn't carry much weight at the moment.

"Easy now, Swan," he murmured, laying her down on a mattress. It really was warmer in here, she reluctantly admitted to herself. That didn't mean that she could stop herself from shivering violently though. Killian carefully tucked another blanket on top of her and stood back up. "I don't want to put anymore blankets on you in case you overheat."

"S' c-cold…"

Killian frowned again and looked around the room to try and find something else that could help warm her up. Coming up empty, he shrugged and toed off his hiking boots.

Hearing the twin thuds on the floor, Emma looked over to see Killian undressing. "What-what are you d-doing?" she spluttered.

"Relax, Swan, I'm not fully nude." He winked and patted his boxer-clad thighs as proof. "Nothing you haven't seen before anyway. But the fewer layers between us, the better for heat transfer."

"K-killian, I—"

"Shh, Emma. You need to break the fever and the only way to do that without suffocating you is if I help." He smiled at her and looked extremely proud of his idea.

"I'm…not—"

Paying no mind to her babblings, Killian strode back over to the bunk and carefully adjusted her so there was room for him to fit on the bed too. He quickly lifted the covers and before she could do more than gasp at the sudden cold air, he nestled in close to her. She felt the heat radiating off him immediately and it was the warmest she'd felt all night. He hissed when her cold fingers and toes made contact with his skin but made no move to retreat. Without even realizing what she was doing, Emma molded herself to him and greedily leeched off his body heat.

"Erm, love…Not that I'm complaining, but are you wearing any clothes?"

"Just underwear. Tried to tell you…" His cocoon of comforting warmth was quickly lulling her to sleep and her eyelids drooped heavily. Just before she was pulled under she felt the deep vibration of his laugh under her cheek where it was resting on his chest and then the softest brush of his fingers through her hair.

* * *

For the third time in who knows how many hours, Emma woke disoriented. Although this time was for very different reasons than before. Because while she still felt a little muddled, she knew that she wasn't sick anymore. However, her surroundings greatly confused her. This wasn't her cabin and this was definitely not her bed.

But the most surprising thing was the hand on her boob. The very male, very warm hand. On her boob. Which was only covered by a bra. Thank god at least she was wearing a bra, she supposed.

Becoming more and more aware, Emma quickly realized that she had awoken because she was too hot. The blankets had long been kicked off, but the human furnace of a man spooning her from behind was apparently not so smoothly discarded.

"Killian!" she hissed while attempting to angle her neck so she could sneak a glance at him. He just mumbled nonsense at her and pulled her even closer.

 _Well screw waking him up gently._ This time she forced her voice to normal conversation volume. "Jones, wake up."

At first she was rewarded with more deep, even breaths and she thought she'd failed, but after a few seconds Killian stiffened and she felt him turn his head from where it had been resting on her hair.

"Emma?"

"Morning, cupcake," she replied dryly. "Mind removing your hand?"

"My hand—oh!" He quickly pulled his arm back and rolled away from her, apparently too quickly because she heard a muted thump when he hit the floor. "Ow."

Emma breathed a sigh of relief once his overbearing warmth wasn't surrounding her. She slowly sat up and leaned against the wall behind the bed. She chuckled as she saw him rubbing his head, messing up his hair even further. It reminded her of when she first met him; she'd woken him up quite suddenly then, too.

Killian glanced up at her sheepishly. "Um, how are you feeling?"

"All better," she said with a small smile.

He nodded and rubbed the back of his neck. "Excellent. That's really…good."

Emma looked up at the clock that was above every cabin's door. "6:05," she read aloud. "There shouldn't be anyone around still. I'm gonna run back to my cabin before anyone sees me."

Killian stood up at the same time she did. "You can't go outside like that! You'll catch another cold."

"Seriously, I'm fine. It's not that far."

He padded over to a dresser on the far side of the room and opened a drawer. "Here, at least take some of my clothes." He tossed her a dark blue t-shit and some sweatpants before she could answer.

She unfurled the t-shirt and examined it skeptically. "Royal Navy?"

The tips of his ears reddened noticeably and he shrugged. "My brother."

She raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything more. The shirt was incredibly soft so she relented. When she began to dress he pointedly looked away, which she thought was hilarious since not two minutes ago he was groping her in his sleep.

"Um, thank you. For…" she searched for the right words but couldn't find the ones to appropriately match the situation. "Taking care of me, I guess."

"It was my pleasure, love." At her raised brow he hastily continued, "I mean, I'm glad I could help. And that you didn't get brain damage from your fever."

"Please, it wasn't that bad." She waved off his concern and plucked up her blanket from the floor. "Well, thanks, Killian. You should get some sleep before the campers come back this afternoon. You probably didn't sleep that well last night with my elbow in your ribs, right?"

"Actually I slept quite well." Again he seemed to realize only too late what he had implied and swiftly moved to the door to open it for her. "But you're right, I could probably do with another couple hours before the munchkins return," he said, yawning for effect.

Emma headed past him out the door and onto the dewy grass outside. Still walking forward, she turned around and waved the blanket in the air. "See you later, Jones!"

Long after she'd crossed the lawn and reached her own cabin, Killian flopped face-first onto his bed which now smelled like Emma Swan and groaned loudly.

"She's going to be the death of me."


End file.
